What to Know
- The driver in a head-on Delaware crash that killed five members of a New Jersey family has been sentenced to one year of probation
- The judge gave 46-year-old Alvin Hubbard III the maximum combined sentence of 14 years but suspended the prison time for a year of probation
- A father and four daughters, all between the ages of 13 and 20, died in the crash; the mother was the only other survivor.
The driver in a head-on Delaware crash that killed five members of a New Jersey family has been sentenced to one year of probation.
Alvin Hubbard III of Cambridge was sentenced Friday. He pleaded guilty in June to five misdemeanor counts of operating a motor vehicle causing death and two misdemeanor counts of vehicular assault.
The judge gave the 46-year-old Hubbard the maximum combined sentence of 14 years but suspended the prison time for a year of probation. Prosecutors sought a six-month sentence.
Mary Rose Ballocanag, 52, of Teaneck, New Jersey, her husband Audie Trinidad, 61, and their four daughters Kaitlyn, 20, Danna, 17, and twins Allison and Melissa, 13, were returning from a trip to Ocean City, Maryland, in July of last year when a pickup truck driven by Hubbard crossed a median and hit their minivan, investigators said.
Ballocanag survived. Her husband and four daughters all died.
"Part of me died that day," Ballocanag said about the crash.
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Hubbard and his passenger walked away without serious injuries.
Investigators took more than three months to conclude the investigation leading to charges against Hubbard. They determined that Hubbard operated his truck in a criminally negligent manner when he exited his lane of travel, crossed the center median between a multi-lane highway, and crashed into oncoming traffic.
Hubbard was initially charged with five counts of second-degree vehicular homicide, three counts of vehicular assault and other offenses.
Ballocanag's attorney stated last October that she planned to file a civil suit against Hubbard after the investigation.
