A Long Valley man was convicted Friday of assault by auto for causing a crash while he was drunk that injured his passenger.
A Long Valley man was convicted of assault by auto in Middlesex County for causing an accident in 2014 while drunk that injured his passenger. File photo NEW BRUNSWICK — A Long Valley man was convicted Friday of assault by auto for causing a crash while he was drunk that injured his passenger.
Franco Gencarelli, 48, was also convicted of driving while intoxicated and driving while his license was suspended, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey.
Carey said the trial began Monday before Superior Court Judge Alberto Rivas during which county Assistant Prosecutor Lorraine Sult showed that Gencarelli was drunk when he drove a 2004 BMW sport utility vehicle, crashed into a telephone stand, and injured his passenger on April 20, 2014. The vehicle was owned by the passenger, the prosecutor said.
The accident occurred about 1:15 a.m. in the parking lot of a convenience store on Riva Avenue in East Brunswick, Carey said.
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The passenger suffered an injury to her left arm. She was treated at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick and released.
Gencarelli's blood alcohol level was over the legal limit, according to Carey.
He will be sentenced Jan. 4, 2016 by Judge Rivas and faces up to 18 months on each cont when he is sentenced.
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