Former East Hanover Police Sergeant sentenced for deadly DUI crash

A 42-year-old man who was an off-duty police sergeant at the time he killed a victim in a wrong-way crash has been sent to prison for a short term.

Keith M. Gunther, of Wanaque, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor to five years in state prison for the death of 55-year-old Paterson resident, Hamid Shabuddin.

Gunther pleaded guilty in April to second-degree reckless vehicular homicide, third-degree assault by auto and driving under the influence.

Of the sentence delivered on Tuesday, he must serve just over four years before being eligible for parole.

Gunther was an off-duty sergeant with the East Hanover Police Department at the time of the crash.

He is no longer employed by the department, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll said.

Witnesses say truck made illegal turn before Rt 23 deadly crash

On Oct. 15, 2024, just before 11 p.m. police were called to the crash scene on Route 23 North in Riverdale.

Investigators said Gunther’s Ford F-150 was traveling south in the northbound lanes of Route 23, when the truck hit a 2005 Toyota Camry head-on.

Witnesses told police that the truck had exited Route 287 North and then made an illegal turn on Route 23, where the crash happened before the intersection with Newark Pompton Turnpike, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

Off-duty cop told officers he had drinks before Riverdale crash

Shabuddin, the front passenger of the Camry, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gunther showed signs of being under the influence and told police that he had been drinking that night.

Blood samples were later taken as part of the investigation.

Victim in NJ crash was heading to overnight work shift

The driver of the Toyota was hospitalized and treated for injuries that included a shattered kneecap, broken heels and broken ribs, according to the same affidavit.

Shabuddin was carpooling to work for an overnight shift, according to an online fundraiser for his family, as shared by Paterson Councilman Shahin Khalique to Facebook.

They had recently moved to New Jersey from South Africa, according to the same fundraiser.

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