Julia Marnin
The Charlotte Observer
MAGNOLIA, N.J. — The driver of a fire truck that ran a red light and slammed into a car, killing two people inside, at a New Jersey intersection is facing charges months later, prosecutors say.
The man and woman, sitting in the driver and passenger seats of a Nissan Sentra, died at the scene of the crash the morning of Jan. 19 in Magnolia, according to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.
John Gibson, 29, of Lawnside was charged on July 28 with causing their deaths a news release from the prosecutor’s office says. He faces charges including second-degree vehicular homicide by operating a vehicle recklessly and third-degree hindering apprehension or prosecution.
Gibson was driving the fire truck for the Lawnside Borough Fire Department when the crash took place, according to prosecutors, who did not mention if he was a firefighter for the department.
On the day of the crash, Gibson is accused of driving a truck in the opposite lane and navigating around other cars stopped at a red light, the release says. Then, the truck entered an intersection “without stopping” before striking the Nissan.
Investigators told CBS Philly that Gibson was driving to a cardiac arrest emergency in Magnolia at the time. Prosecutors did not specify this in the release.
The pair that was killed, John Bishop, 68, and Marie Endicott, 75, were described as a couple who had been together for 37 years and were survived by five children and eight grandchildren in an obituary by the Courier-Post.
Lawnside is roughly 35 miles southwest of Trenton.
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