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DUI Driver Arrested In Crash That Killed 1, Critically Injured 4 In South Jersey: Prosecutor

A 39-year-old man was killed and four others were left critical following a head-on collision with a drunken driver in Camden County, authorities said.

Somerdale police

Somerdale police

Photo Credit: Somerdale PD via Facebook

Gerard Norum, 51, of Blackwood, was behind the wheel of the crash on White Horse Pike in Somerdale that killed  Walter Lopez-Arevalo, of Lindenwold, just before midnight Thursday, March 14, according to Camden County Prosecutor Grace C. MacAulay.

Norum was heading west when he struck the eastbound vehicle occupied by Lopez-Arevalo near Cedar Avenue, MacAulay said alongside Somerdale Police Chief James J. Walsh.

The vehicle containing Lopez-Arevalo was being driven by a 34-year-old woman. A 17-year-old male, 14-year-old female, and a 12-year-old boy in the car were listed in critical condition, along with the driver, police said.

Norum was placed under arrest at the scene and later charged with driving while intoxicated, death by auto and four counts of assault by auto, authorities said.

Norum was being treated at Cooper University Hospital. they said late Friday afternoon, March 15. Authorities did not release his condition.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Samuel Funches of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office Crash Response Investigations Team at (856) 397-4000 and Detective Howard Dawson of the Somerdale Police Department at (856) 428-6324 ext. 2900.

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