Trucker charged in fatal crash that injured actor

Staff/wire report

Actor and comedian Tracy Morgan was critically injured Saturday after a tractor-trailer rammed into his chauffeured limousine bus in New Jersey, setting off a chain-reaction crash that left a fellow comedian dead and two others seriously hurt, authorities said.

A truck driver from Georgia was charged with death by auto in the crash that killed a man described as a mentor to the former “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock” cast member as the group traveled home from a stand-up comedy show in Delaware, officials said.

James McNair, 62, of Peekskill, N.Y., who performed as Jimmy Mack, died after the Mercedes limo bus carrying seven people overturned on the New Jersey Turnpike near Cranbury Township about 1 a.m., state police Sgt. 1st Class Greg Williams said.

Morgan, 45, and Jeffrey Millea, 36, of Shelton, Conn., were flown from the accident scene to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, where they were in critical condition, hospital spokesman Peter Haigney said.

Morgan remained in the intensive-care unit at the hospital Saturday night, and spokesman Lewis Kay said his family was with him and he was “receiving excellent care.”

It is unknown if his mother, Alicia Warden, who owns a home on Youngstown’s South Side, is among the family with him. She lived here in 2012 when she made national headlines by disclosing she was going to lose the home to foreclosure and her son wouldn’t give her the money to pay for it.

She still is listed as the owner of the house at 365 Hilton Ave. on the Mahoning County auditor’s website, but it’s unclear if she still lives there. She couldn’t be reached by phone by The Vindicator on Saturday, and a reporter was unable to find her at that house, so it’s also unclear if her relationship with her son is still strained.

A fourth passenger in Morgan’s limo, comedian Ardie Fuqua Jr., also was in critical condition, and a fifth passenger, comic Harris Stanton, was treated and released, Haigney said. Two others in the limo were unhurt, including the driver.

Middlesex County prosecutors said 35-year-old Kevin Roper of Jonesboro, Ga., also faces four counts of assault by auto.

His bail was set at $50,000, and he was expected to turn himself in later Saturday. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney.