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DUI Driver Sentenced For Crash That Killed Popular NJ Restaurant Owner

A repeat drunk-driving offender was sentenced to 12 years in New Jersey State Prison for a crash that killed a popular restaurant owner last September.

Cucina Carini Italian Restaurant and Desmond Newberry

Cucina Carini Italian Restaurant and Desmond Newberry

Photo Credit: Google Maps/ Burlington County Prosecutor's Office

Desmond Newberry, 45, of Marlton, was sentenced on Monday, June 19  for causing the death of Mount Laurel's Glenn Keen in the parking lot of Cucina Carini, the restaurant he owned, according to Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw.

Newberry pleaded guilty earlier this year to aggravated manslaughter.

The investigation began on Sept. 3, 2022, when officers from the Mount Laurel Police Department were dispatched to the Hainesport Road restaurant for a report of a motor vehicle collision just after 8 p.m.

The investigation determined that Keen was pulling out of the parking lot when he was struck by a vehicle traveling westbound being driven by Newberry.

Keen, who was pulled from his burning vehicle by civilians prior to the arrival of police, was airlifted to Temple University Hospital, where he later died.

Newberry was extricated from his vehicle by the Mount Laurel Fire Department and transported to Cooper University Hospital in Camden with minor injuries.

The event data recorder from Newberry’s BMW revealed he was traveling at 126 miles per hour just prior to striking Keen’s Ford SUV, Bradshaw said.

Newberry did not dispute that his blood alcohol concentration was . 256 immediately following the collision – more than three times the threshold to determine drunk driving in New Jersey, Bradshaw said.

He pleaded guilty to drunk driving on two previous occasions, the prosecutor said.

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