Holiday weekend was deadly start to the new year

TRENTON - Car crashes and gunfire combined to make the New Year's holiday weekend a deadly one in parts of New Jersey.

At least nine people died in automobile accidents, and at least six others were shot, two fatally. And three people were stabbed in the head yesterday in Newark.

State police consider the holiday weekend to begin at 6 p.m. Friday and end at 6 a.m. Tuesday, said Sgt. Jeanne Hengemuhle.

Three people were killed yesterday morning when a sport-utility vehicle drove off I-78 in Bedminster around 7:45 a.m., ending up in a wooded area just west of the I-287 merge.

The driver, Louicasse Pierre, 39, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and his daughters - Ashley, 9, and Arabellah, 4 - were killed in the crash, Hengemuhle said.

Pierre and his elder daughter were pronounced dead at the scene, while his younger daughter was taken to Morristown Memorial Hospital, where she died a short time later.

The cause of the accident was still under investigation.

In Bellmawr, Camden County, two men died Sunday in a two-vehicle accident on I-76. Both were occupants of a Porsche that struck another vehicle in the rear about 12:05 a.m. in the southbound lanes of the interstate, police said.

The crash knocked the Porsche off the roadway and into trees in a nearby wooded area. The driver, Robert Banco, 32, and his passenger, Lubos Sokol, 33, were pronounced dead at the scene.

In North Bergen, two other people were killed and another injured about 6 p.m. Sunday when three vehicles collided in the Hudson County community.

The two people killed were both riding in the same vehicle, police said.

In Upper Freehold Township, a man was charged with drunken driving in an accident that killed a husband and wife on Route 539 on Sunday, Hengemuhle said.

Ramon Cervantes, 24, of Jackson, was being held by police after the crash that killed 56-year-old Joseph Romanella of Monroe and his 63-year-old wife, Patricia.

Heavy rains yesterday contributed to numerous accidents in which vehicles skidded or flipped, authorities said.

Police in Atlantic City were investigating two weekend murders.

On Saturday night, Bebe M. Temple, a city resident, was shot to death. On Friday night, Jerrod Moss, 20, was shot in the back of his head with a semiautomatic gun.

Newark police arrested two suspects in the shooting of two teenagers outside a house party early Sunday. The assailants wore ski masks and jumped out of a Jeep, opening fire on a group of teenagers, striking two.

Both were taken to University Hospital, where one remained in critical condition yesterday. The other teen's injuries were less serious, police said. Two teens, aged 14 and 16, were charged with the shootings.

Shortly before 1 a.m. yesterday, a 30-year-old East Orange man and two teens, ages 17 and 16, were stabbed in the head following an argument with two other people, police said. None of the injuries was considered life-threatening.

The teens were treated at University Hospital and released; the adult remained hospitalized yesterday afternoon.

Prentis and Aldawin Lassiter, both 27, of Newark, were charged with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

And in Pemberton Township, Burlington County, a man and a woman were shot early Sunday as they slept in their home, police said. Detective Lt. Ron Kreig said more than 20 shots were fired from outside the house, striking a 30-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman sleeping in a bedroom. Both were treated at a local hospital and released.

There was no motive immediately apparent for the shooting.