A Jersey City man has been indicted on death by auto for a triple fatal crash on Paterson Plank Road back in October, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez announced.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
A Hudson County Grand Jury returned an indictment against Ziyang Wang, 23, in connection with a multi-fatal collision on Paterson Plank Road in Jersey City on October 16th, 2023.
The indictment, signed by the Hudson County Superior Court Assignment Judge Jeffrey R. Jablonski on January 11th, charges Wang, of Jersey City, with three counts of aggravated manslaughter, three counts of reckless manslaughter, three counts of death by auto, one count of aggravated assault, and one count of assault by auto.
He was initially charged with three counts of reckless manslaughter, three counts of death by auto, and one count of assault by auto two days after the incident.
On Monday, October 16th, at approximately 12:45 a.m., the Jersey City Police Department was notified of a two-car collision on Paterson Plank Road, south of Congress Street.
Responding officers located a BMW X5 M50i that appeared to have crashed head-on with a Kia Amanti. The driver of the Kia – identified as Dylan Weidenfeld, 26, of Jersey City – was pronounced dead at the scene.
The BMW was occupied by five individuals. Wang was identified as the driver of the BMW. A female backseat passenger was pronounced dead at the scene. A male backseat passenger was transported to Jersey City Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
A third backseat passenger, a 19-year-old female, was taken to Jersey City Medical Center with critical injuries.
A front seat female passenger suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Data recovered during the preliminary investigation found Wang was operating the vehicle in excess of 100 miles per hour in the seconds leading up to the collision.
The State is represented in this matter by Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor John Burke.
The incident led the county to install traffic delineators and ramp up enforcement on the dangerous Heights thoroughfare.
