Arrested was 36-year-old Jesse Maiden.
"I'm so sorry. I reached down to get a cigarette and when I looked up I was right on the car," Maiden said after his arrest.
Police say he was high when he drove into the back of a stopped car on I-95, killing 45 year old Norman Wilkerson and his girlfriend of 9 years, 47 year old Maria Cox, both of Philadelphia.
"My mom called me and said Norman's dead and I just dropped the phone. I couldn't believe it," said relative Deloras Wilkerson.
According to police, Wilkerson and Cox were involved in a minor accident at 2:40 Friday morning with a car driven by Joseph Price, who was stopped in the highway with a flat tire. No one was injured in that accident.
But less than a half hour later, as the three waited for police to arrive, Maiden, who was driving more than 80 miles per hour without headlights on, according to a witness, slammed into Wilkerson's Ford Contour.
Wilkerson and Cox, both parents of adult children, were killed instantly.
Price suffered a broken neck. Maiden and his passenger, 21 year old Kristen Paris, who was wanted on a prostitution charge, suffered only minor injuries.
Police say the pair was coming from a New Year's party.
"This is a senseless tragedy that could have been avoided had this gentleman not chose to go out on New Year's Eve, drive at a high rate of speed, possibly with crack and marijuana in his system," said Lt. David Buckley of the Pennsylvania State Police.
There's nothing I can even say to make up," said Maiden.
Maiden has a history of arrests including at least one for drug possession. He's now charged with, among other things, with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence. That means if he's found guilty, he'll spend at least six years behind bars.
