Guilty plea in crash that killed 5 New Jersey family members in Delaware

TOWNSEND, Del. (WPVI) -- The driver charged with causing a crash on a highway in Delaware, leading to the deaths of five members of the same New Jersey family, entered a guilty plea on Wednesday.

Alvin Hubbard III of East New Market, Maryland faces up to 14 years in prison if he gets the maximum sentence on all charges.
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He pleaded guilty to five counts of Operation of a Motor Vehicle Causing Death, one count of Vehicular Assault (2nd Degree) and one count of Vehicular Assault (3rd Degree).

Hubbard's pickup truck crossed the median on Route 1 and collided with the family's minivan in July 2018.

The family was returning from a trip to Ocean City, Maryland at the time.



In the indictment, investigators said neither drugs nor alcohol were involved in the crash, but that Hubbard operated his pickup truck in a criminally negligent manner.

The family's matriarch, Mary Rose Ballocanag, survived. Her husband Audie Trinidad of Teaneck, New Jersey, and their four daughters died in the crash.


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Hubbard's pickup truck also hit a car driven by 24-year-old Brian Kern of Bethlehem, Pa. Kern survived, as did a passenger in Hubbard's truck.

In an interview, Kern said the crash site looked like a "war scene."

"Out of the corner of my left eye, I see this F-350 truck wildly swerving in the median through the grass, and I knew it was coming right for us," Kern said.