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A badly-burned Nashauna Johnson of Newark also mounted a GoFundMe campaign to deal with legal costs.
A grand jury in Newark on Thursday returned an indictment charging Johnson with four counts of death by auto – also known as vehicular homicide -- in the June 9 crash on Route 22 at the Newark-Hillside border.
In her TikTok video, Johnson contends that drugs, alcohol, and speed weren’t factors when her Cadillac CTS that swerved, hit a guardrail and burst into flames, ejecting some of the victims.
Typing out the words on a laptop with a pencil in her gloved hand, Johnson says she went to a pop-up party at the Jersey Shore with her boyfriend after work that day.
They danced, she says, then stopped for some food on the way home with three good friends they’d run into there.
“Next [thing] [i] remember is waking up in August in the hospital,” Johnson wrote.
Newark’s Taylor Hill, 19, and Kamal Johnson, 18, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Nashawn Brooks, 19, of Irvington died shortly before noon the next day at University Hospital in Newark.
Asanti McNair, 19, of Newark died on July 10.
Johnson, the lone survivor, said she suffered burns on 60% of her body, along with a collapsed lung and a few broken ribs (continued below).
Authorities have said very little about the crash or its cause other than to rule out speed. Speculation was that distracted driving was to blame.
Then came Thursday’s indictment, after which Johnson was arrested and told that she’ll be given a date for a first appearance in Superior Court in Newark, where she'll be formally read the charges and a judge will decide whether to release or detain her pending trial.
In response, Johnson and her mother, Nicole Harper, mounted a GoFundMe account dedicated to "help with legal fees."
“While we are already enduring medical expenses (many that are not covered by insurance), the expense of legal counsel is beyond our scope,” they wrote. “If you are able to assist, we would be eternally grateful!”
A separate GoFundMe campaign launched last September raised more than $14,000 toward Johnson’s medical expenses.
In her two-minute TikTok video, Johnson says she and her boyfriend decided to go to Point Pleasant because it was “the official day they opened up lockdown where I live so everyone was out there.
“Had our fun at the beach and by the end [I] spotted my close friends from high school I wasn’t able to see for a while,” she continues.
“They called an [U]ber and left before me but then [I] got a call,” she writes. “They couldn’t reach the [U]ber because one of their phones died so they asked to ride back with me. “We stopped to get food and danced a bit then headed home….
“Next [thing] [i] remember is waking up in August in the hospital.”
“That night [I] was put in a medically inducted coma as the doctors started a 72[-]hour countdown….[O]nly 15% of people live from this.
“A week after [I] woke and was able to stay awake most [of] the day. Physical therapist began reteaching me to walk.
“3 days later [I] was walking the halls… the doctors were lost for words.
“Once [I] was fully up and able, my parents told me 2 constant reminders till this day…
"1. Your friends are no longer with you
2. Not everyone will be happy that [you’re] here.”
GoFundMe: Help with Nashauna’s Legal Fees
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