The Colorado man charged in the death of four teenagers in a fatal wrong-way crash on the New Jersey Turnpike was drunk when he struck the group’s car head-on, according to court documents.
Christopher Neff, a 41-year-old man from Westminster, was found to have a blood-alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit at the time of the crash, according to an arrest affidavit released to The Denver Post on Thursday.
Police obtained a sample of Neff’s blood from the hospital for testing and found he had a 0.22% blood-alcohol content at the time of the blood draw, investigators wrote in the document. The legal limit for driving is 0.08%.
Several witnesses told investigators that they smelled “the strong odor of an alcohol beverage emanating from Mr. Neff’s breath,” police wrote.
Surveillance videos from multiple businesses in the area captured Neff arriving at the nearby Turnpike Inn at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, police said in the affidavit. He was seen drinking multiple alcoholic beverages and, at one point, urinating outside the bar.
Neff left the bar shortly after 12:30 a.m. Sunday and drove across the street to a truck stop, where he purchased food, police said.
The man then drove onto an exit ramp for the Turnpike, almost colliding with another vehicle, and entered the highway headed the wrong direction, according to videos obtained by investigators. The fatal crash happened minutes later, at about 12:40 a.m. Sunday.
Neff, driving northbound in the southbound lanes, crashed his 2021 Dodge Ram 2500 into a Mazda CX-5, with four teenagers inside, according to the New Jersey State Police. A semitrailer then hit the Mazda from behind.
The crash killed 19-year-old Yaakov Kilberg of Lakewood, N.J.; 18-year-old Aharon Lebovits of Lakewood, N.J.; 18-year-old Chaim Grossman of Fallsburg, N.Y.; and 18-year-old Shlomo Cohen of Lakewood, N.J., police said.
Paramedics took Neff to the hospital with serious injuries, where he remained as of Wednesday afternoon.
When New Jersey officers searched Neff’s pickup truck, they found:
- Two rifles, one with an attached suppressor;
- A handgun;
- A BB gun;
- Several high-capacity handgun and rifle magazines;
- Hundreds of rounds of ammunition, including hollow points and full metal jackets;
- Psilocybin mushrooms, a criminalized hallucinogenic in New Jersey;
- And methadone.
Neff faces four charges of aggravated manslaughter, four counts of vehicular homicide and multiple weapons and drugs charges for the items discovered in his truck, according to New Jersey court records.
As of Thursday, he had not been charged specifically with driving under the influence, but investigators said additional counts may be added as the investigation continues. A court date had not been scheduled.
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