New Brunswick Mom Charged In Wrong-Way Crash That Killed 2 Boys

New Brunswick NJ

01 December, 2021

10:34 AM

Description

NORTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — It was a young mother from New Brunswick who the county prosecutor says drove the wrong way down a Rt. 1 ramp and collided with a police car Thanksgiving night; she survived the crash, but the two boys in her car both died. Authorities believe reckless driving and alcohol consumption were contributing factors to the crash, said Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone in a statement Tuesday. The New Brunswick woman, Yokauri Batista-Alcantara, 31, was charged Friday with two counts of first-degree aggravated manslaughter, two counts of second-degree vehicular homicide, two counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, two counts of aggravated assault, and one count of fourth-degree assault by auto. Both boys were 9 years old, said the county prosecutor. According to a GoFundMe page for her that has now been taken down, one was her son, and the other boy was her nephew. The page was started by her mother; it remains unknown why it was taken down. The fatal crash happened at 11:53 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, Nov. 25 in North Brunswick: Police say Batista-Alcantara was driving a Honda Accord on Rt. 130 and drove the wrong way down a ramp to Rt. 1, where she collided with a marked Old Bridge Police patrol vehicle. The Old Bridge police car had two police officers inside who were taking a suspect who had been arrested to the Middlesex County jail, which is located very close to where the crash happened, in North Brunswick. Batista-Alcantara and the children were taken to a nearby hospital where the boys were pronounced dead, Ciccone said. The two police officers and the civilian in their squad car also had to be taken to a nearby hospital and treated for injuries. Batista-Alcantara is currently being held at the Middlesex County jail. "If you knew Yokauri, you knew that she loved her son more than life itself. Furthermore, she loved her nephew just as much. Unfortunately, this is the most horrific situation imaginable for anyone to experience. Yokauri is forced to grieve for her only son and her nephew alone, while facing impending charges," Margarita Alcantara wrote on the now-deleted GoFundMe. "I know my daughter and this situation can truly happen to anyone in the blink of an eye." Anyone with information or video footage of the area is asked to call Detective Jonathan Berman of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office at (732) 745-4328. The Attorney General's office is also conducting an investigation into the incident, as it involved a police car. Sign up for Patch emails: https://patch.com/subscribe Contact this Patch reporter: [email protected]