Driver Who Deliberately Hit Fort Dix MPs With His Car Gets Three Years, No Parole

UPDATE: A Florida man who deliberately hit two Air Force military police officers at Fort Dix with his car -- dragging one of them several feet – is headed to federal prison for nearly three years.

Hal Wander
Photo Credit: *BURLINGTON COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE*

Jerry DeMarco

04/14/2023 11:47 a.m.

With no parole in the federal prison system, Hal Wander, 26, of Port Charlotte, will have to serve out the entire sentence. Then comes three years of supervised release.

Wander sped through a designated checkpoint without stopping at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst military base in Burlington County, NJ on Nov. 16, 2020, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.

One of the officers got out and reached into the car to try and kill the ignition, but Wander hit the gas, dragging him several feet, the U.S. attorney said.

Wander "continued to drive his vehicle dangerously until he hit a utility pole, came to a stop and was arrested," Sellinger said.

Wander took a deal from the government rather than risk the potential outcome of a trial. He pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Camden last year to two counts of assault with a deadly weapon in exchange for leniency.

Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations' Detachment 307 with the investigation leading to the plea, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elisa T. Wiygul of his Criminal Division in Camden.

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