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The 38-year-old Egg Harbor Township woman was charged with manslaughter on Saturday, Feb. 22, for drunkenly crashing into another car last December, killing a Somers Point man who was declared cancer-free just two months prior, Egg Harbor Township police said.
Almost a year before the crash in 2023, Dixon herself was severely injured after being hit by a drunk driver while on a last-minute Christmas shopping trip, according to a GoFundMe campaign launched after the crash.
In the 2023 crash, Dixon suffered liver damage, bruised ribs, broken hand bones, and severely injured her knee and neck, the campaign said. She spent six days in intensive care and missed spending Christmas with her children, according to campaign founder Tiffany Ping.
Oriel Dixon
Dixon was involved in another drunk driving crash about a year later, except this time, police say she was the one intoxicated behind the wheel.
On Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, Dixon was heading north on Blackman Road in a 2006 Mercury Mountaineer and crossed the center line into oncoming traffic, Egg Harbor Township police said. The SUV collided head-on with Joseph Natale, 72, who was heading south in a 2015 Honda CR-V, police said.
Natale was taken to Shore Medical Center by EMS, where he succumbed to his injuries shortly after, police said. Besides aggravated manslaughter, Dixon also faces charges of child endangerment, as a boy was in her vehicle at the time of the crash, police said.
"God thank you for sparring my life," Dixon said after the 2023 crash.
Natale's obituary says he's a New Castle, PA native who worked various casino jobs, including serving as a bellman at Bally's for nearly 20 years. He was married to the love of his life, Syliva, who preceded him in death, and shared one child together, Toby.
Just two months before the crash that claimed his life, Natale announced he was free from colon and esophageal cancers.
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