Actor and comedian Tracy Morgan, 45, remains in critical condition after a horrific fatal accident that claimed the life of a fellow comedian and close friend of Morgan. The men were in a group traveling back to New York City with five others in Morgan’s 2012 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. They had just finished a performance in Delaware at the Dover Downs Hotel and Casino.
The accident occurred on the New Jersey Turnpike in Cranbury at approximately 1 a.m. According to a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police, a 35-year-old Georgia man driving a truck for corporate behemoth Wal-Mart fell asleep behind the wheel and slammed into the luxury limo bus.
Morgan, who became famous as part of the cast of “Saturday Night Live” before going on to star on 30 Rock, was critically injured when the vehicle overturned. Other cars were then involved in the subsequent chain reaction car accident.
Both Morgan and his assistant were taken by helicopter to a facility in New Brunswick, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where their conditions were described as “critical.” The 63-year-old man who died at the scene was a confidante of Morgan and one of his writers. There were two other comedians on the bus who also suffered injuries.
The Wal-Mart driver has been charged with multiple counts of assault by a motor vehicle and a count of death by auto. This information was provided by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. His bail is $50,000.
Morgan’s publicist released a statement that his family is now with him and his condition is not expected to change at this time. The Daily News quoted a unnamed source who said he remains “in very bad shape.”
Regardless of the outcome of the criminal charges against the truck driver, there is likely to be civil litigation resulting from the driver’s negligence.
Source: New York Daily News, “Tracy Morgan critically injured in New Jersey crash caused by truck driver now charged with death by auto” Joseph Stepansky, Barry Paddock, Corinne Lestch, Jun. 07, 2014
