Woman Charged in Collision that Killed Pemberton High Senior Was Allegedly Traveling at 90 MPH Before It, Had BAC of .188%

 

PEMBERTON—A Pemberton Township woman has been charged with reckless manslaughter and vehicular homicide after a law enforcement investigation determined that she was allegedly driving while impaired when her vehicle had crossed the centerline of Lakehurst Road in the municipality, on Dec. 16, and crashed head-on into a Nissan Sentra being driven by a Pemberton Township High School senior, killing the teenager.

 

Wanda Sprague, 54, of the 200 block of Pemberton-Browns Mills Road, was charged Jan. 20 with first-degree reckless manslaughter and second-degree vehicular homicide in the Dec. 16 evening crash, according to a joint press release from the Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina and Pemberton Township Police Chief Jay Watters.

 

The Pine Barrens Tribune previously reported that a 2015 Nissan Sentra being operated by 17-year-old Kayla Estrella Bowen was traveling east on Lakehurst Road, near Rancocas Lane, around 9:19 p.m. on Dec. 16 when a 2010 Chrysler 300 being driven in the westbound lane by Sprague, “crossed the centerline of the roadway, entered the eastbound lanes of travel, and crashed head-on” into the teenager’s Nissan.

 

Bowen was pronounced dead at the scene by Virtua Health paramedics.

 

According to the two top law enforcement officials, the ensuing investigation into the crash determined that the headlights on Sprague’s Chrysler were not turned on when she crashed head-on into the Nissan (which was confirmed by investigators through video surveillance, according to a copy of a criminal complaint against Sprague, obtained by this newspaper).

 

The investigation further determined that Sprague had been consuming alcohol prior to the crash at a local bar, later identified by Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Joel Bewley as Country Lakes Pub & Grill, which is located in Browns Mills.

 

Sprague also reportedly reached a speed exceeding 90 mph prior to the collision, which was confirmed through a New Jersey State Police examination of an Electronic Data Recorder (EDR) taken from the Chrysler, according to the criminal complaint, which noted that the posted speed limit in the area was only 35 mph.

 

Sprague, the authorities said, suffered extensive injuries in the crash, from which she is still recovering.

 

In New Jersey, the legal limit for Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) is .08 percent. According to the criminal complaint, a blood sample collected from Sprague, ordered by a judge at 11:33 p.m. the evening of the collision, revealed Sprague’s BAC was “of 0.188 percent or above.”

 

The criminal complaint notes that prior to the blood sample being ordered by the judge, police officers had detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from Sprague’s “vehicle and person” at the scene of the crash, and that she reportedly “stated to paramedics she drank whiskey at a bar that evening.” Additionally, police had obtained “Sprague’s receipt from the Country Lakes Pub & Grill, which showed four alcoholic drinks purchased prior to the crash,” it is noted in the criminal complaint.

 

Eyewitnesses interviewed by police, according to the criminal complaint, maintained that Sprague was not only traveling at a high rate of speed on Lakehurst Road, and without her headlights on, but also “weaving into opposite lanes of traffic and struck a trash can before colliding head-on with the victim.”

 

In addition to the criminal charges, Sprague was issued multiple traffic citations, including operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

 

Sprague, in a first appearance in Burlington County Superior Court on Jan. 20, was ordered by a judge to not have any contact with the victim’s family, which Bewley later told this newspaper was a standard procedure in such cases.

 

The case will now be prepared for presentation to a grand jury for possible indictment.

 

Bowen, according to an obituary, was born in Hoboken on April 12, 2004, and grew up in the Browns Mills section of Pemberton. As a Pemberton high senior, she was enrolled in the school’s Medical Arts Program.