A Wal-Mart truck driver has been charged with one count of death by auto and four counts of assault by auto in a wreck early Saturday morning that killed one person and left four others, including actor Tracy Morgan, in critical condition. His bail has been set at $50,000.
The truck driver was identified as 35-year-old Kevin Roper of Jonesboro, Ga.
CNN reports that Roper turned himself in to authorities Sunday morning.
Morgan and the other victims are still in intensive care at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey. Comedian James McNair, 63, was declared dead at the scene.
Two others were also injured in the accident but were not considered to be in critical condition.
The tragic chain-reaction crash involved six vehicles around 1 a.m. Saturday on a New Jersey turnpike. Morgan and McNair were riding in a limo bus.
According to Sgt. Gregory Williams of the New Jersey State Police, the truck driver “failed to observe slow-moving traffic ahead” and swerved at the last minute to “try and avoid the Mercedes limo bus but struck it from behind, forcing the limo to rotate and overturn.”
New Jersey officers said they do not believe alcohol was involved, but they do suspect the driver was dozing off at the time of the accident.
The president and CEO of Wal-Mart U.S., Bill Simon, previously said the company will “take full responsibility” if it is found that the Wal-Mart truck caused the accident.
The limo bus driver said he could hear Morgan screaming for help after the crash but said he was unable to reach the actor.
“I climbed around and heard Tracy screaming for help,” said his driver, Tyrone Gale. “I climbed up on the body of the limo bus … but I couldn’t reach him.”
Gale said the entire crash is a blur to him now, but he remembers the awful condition everyone was in after the crash.
“I just remember the impact … We didn’t know which way was up, which way was down,” Gale said. “I don’t know if we flipped several times or one time. I saw the condition of everybody and I knew it could just make it worse if I tried to pull them up and out of the vehicle.”
Gale said it was a very exciting time for the group as they were returning from one of Morgan’s performances on his “Turn It Funny” tour.
Gale remembers Morgan holding his baby just before they got into the limo bus.
“A great show in Dover, a lot of excitement going home,” Gale recalled. “Tracy was holding his baby before we left and he said, ‘I’m holding my princess.’ ”
Morgan has four children in addition to the child Gale remembered him holding.
His youngest daughter, who was born in July, is his child with fiancée Megan Wollover.
