NJ driver, 18, who killed man gets light sentence

🔷 Crash kills NJ man, hurts others

🔷 Teen driver was unlicensed

🔷 After guilty plea, light sentence

An 18-year-old man from Middlesex County has been sentenced to a light prison term after a deadly crash in the winter.

Manuel Centeno-Rodriguez, of North Brunswick, previously pleaded guilty to second-degree vehicular homicide and two counts of fourth-degree assault by auto.

The three-vehicle crash killed 69-year-old Silverio Castro-Martinez, of New Brunswick, while also seriously hurting two others.

On Dec. 19 around 6:30 a.m., Centeno-Rodriguez was driving a Chevy Silverado without a valid license, when he struck a Volkswagen Golf that was stopped in traffic on Route 130 at Renaissance Boulevard in North Brunswick.

The Volkswagen was then pushed forward into an Acura RDX stopped in front of it, according to police.

Castro-Martinez, a rear passenger in the Golf, was killed while two others inside the same car were seriously hurt and taken to a local hospital.

On May 3, Centeno-Rodriguez was handed down a three-year sentence — 85% of which he must serve before becoming eligible for parole, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone.

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