Texting-and-driving trial: Driver read text minute before fatal crash, detective says

FREEHOLD - At 8:18 a.m. and 22 seconds on Sept. 28, 2016, Alexandra Mansonet received an incoming message on her cellphone, a detective testified Thursday.

A report generated by a computer program that analyzes data extracted from cellular phones indicates the text message was read, Hazlet Detective Ryan McAndrews told a Monmouth County jury. 

What appeared to be a portion of a response to that text message followed, McAndrews testified.

Then, at 8:19 a.m. and 33 seconds that same day, Mansonet's black Mercedes Benz can be seen on surveillance footage from a nearby home crashing into the back of a red Toyota Corolla on Laurel Avenue in Hazlet, McAndrews said.

There was only a three-second difference in the clocks on the surveillance camera and Mansonet's phone, with the phone being faster, the detective said.

McAndrews' testimony at Mansonet's trial for vehicular manslaughter is crucial because prosecutors allege the reckless act she engaged in, costing a 39-year-old Hazlet woman her life, was texting and driving.

Witnesses testified the crash propelled the Toyota into Yuwen Wang, who was in the crosswalk between Fifth and Sixth streets on Laurel Avenue in Hazlet, nearby the popular Henry Hudson walking trail. Wang died five days later. 

Mansonet, 50, of Keansburg, is believed to be the first person in New Jersey to stand trial for vehicular homicide in a texting-while-driving case.

McAndrews testified that Mansonet received the text message in question from someone named Denise, whom he later learned is Mansonet's friend and former sister-in-law. 

The message said, "Cuban, American or Mexican. Pick one," McAndrews said.

Christopher Decker, assistant Monmouth County prosecutor, told the jury in his opening statement on Wednesday that it referred to their dinner plans that night. 

Mansonet's attorney, Steven D. Altman, told the jury his client wasn't texting, but trying to adjust the rear defogger on her car when she crashed into the Toyota. 

Wang suffered injuries so severe when she was struck by the Toyota that medical staff at a trauma center believed she couldn't be operated on, a forensic pathologist testified Thursday.

Wang was comatose when she arrived at Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center in New Brunswick, suffering from "very significant traumatic injuries," said Dr. Lauren Thoma, deputy county medical examiner at the Middlesex Regional Medical Examiner's Office.

The clinical team at the trauma center "felt her prognosis was extremely poor, and she would not be a candidate for surgery," Thoma testified of Wang.

"The most serious injuries were confined to the head," Thoma said. 

Those injuries included a "skull fracture extending across multiple bones," and "fractures within the skull base," the doctor testified. 

In addition, Wang suffered bleeding on the brain, swelling and shifting of the brain and a laceration to the back of her skull, Thoma said. Scans of the victim's brain were stopped after she underwent ''brain death," Thoma said.

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Joseph Matich of Keansburg, who was a passenger in the red Toyota driven by his father, testified Wednesday that Wang's head struck and shattered the windshield before it smashed onto the ground two or three times, "like a basketball."

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In addition to severe head injuries, Wang suffered from road rash and bruises, and bleeding to her lower legs at about the height of the Toyota's bumper, Thoma told the jury.

She said Wang died as a result of complications from blunt-force trauma and her death was classified as accidental. 

The classification as an accident was for statistical purposes and "not intended to have any bearing on criminality or responsibility," Thoma told the jury. 

A 2012 state law renders using a handheld phone while driving an act of recklessness upon which a vehicular homicide prosecution may proceed. Mansonet would face five to 10 years in prison if she is convicted.

Leonore Montagne of Keansburg testified Thursday that she was on the opposite side of the crosswalk, with her grandson in a baby carriage, when she saw the Toyota strike Wang and the victim go up onto its hood. Afterward, the victim was on the ground, "in a fetal position, and she looked like she was sleeping."

Catherine Ward of Keansburg testified she was driving through the crosswalk before Wang entered it when she noticed the Mercedes about three car lengths behind her.

"I kind of realized they were going too fast to slow down," Ward said of the Mercedes.

Ward said she heard what she described as a "powerful" sound of the crash impact and called 911.

"I told them to bring an ambulance," she said. 

Douglas Yurgelonis of Hazlet was on his way to work that morning, pulling onto Laurel Avenue from Fourth Street, when he saw the Mercedes "coming too fast," he said.

"I just was uncomfortable with how fast they were going," Yurgelonis testified. 

Yurgelonis said the upcoming crosswalk leads to the Henry Hudson trail, which is popular among hikers. 

"Any time of day, you could have somebody potentially in that crosswalk," he said. 

The red Toyota was at a full stop before the crosswalk when Yurgelonis said the Mercedes rear-ended it. 

Mansonet is on trial before Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman. 

Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues, unsolved mysteries and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com; 732-643-4202.