Drunk Driver Going 107 MPH Kills 8-Year-Old Boy Sleeping During Family Fishing Trip

After being drunk and killing a young boy two summers ago, a man from New Jersey will spend more than ten years in jail.

In February, 25-year-old Edward Johnston pleaded guilty in Atlantic County Superior Court to one count of aggravated murder and one count of driving while impaired. This was the full charge against him.

He was given a 15-year prison term by Judge Joseph Levin on Tuesday. The suspect will not be able to get out of jail until he has served at least 12 years and 9 months.

But the police say that the case isn’t really over yet.

Javier “Javi” Velez, 8, died while sleeping in the trunk of his dad’s car on the warm night of July 23, 2023. He was fishing with his dad and brother. Absecon is a small city less than 10 miles west of Atlantic City. The car was stopped well away from Absecon Boulevard.

While the rest of the Velez family, who were visiting from Philadelphia, fished in a creek just feet away, around 3:25 a.m., an out-of-control car jumped off White Horse Pike and hit a parked car after going well past the shoulder of the road.

During the sentence hearing, BreakingAC said that Javi had told his father before he went to sleep in the car, “Wake me up when we get home.”

Instead, the blow killed him right away that Sunday night—just two weeks and one day after he turned eight years old.

Despite being caught “several hours after” the incident, Johnston was still very drunk, with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of.122. The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office said that marijuana was found in both his body and his car.

The suspect was drinking all night at bars in nearby Atlantic City. He is from wealthy Egg Harbour City. In that moment, he was going 107 miles per hour, which is 57 miles over the speed limit.

The prosecutor’s office said in a news release that they think Johnston may have been texting at the time of the accident.

The suspect, on the other hand, did not run away and admitted that he had been drinking a lot before the crime.

On top of that, Johnston was charged with driving while drunk and aggravated murder in the first degree.

The prosecution asked the judge to hold the defendant, but the judge in charge of the case quickly freed him before his hearing. A lot of people were angry about the bail decision, and there was a movement to change the rule in the Garden State.

“It’s about my kid, but the main question should be why this man is still free,” Javi’s mom, Kaylah Smith, told WPVI in Philadelphia on July 28, 2023. “He killed my child.” This man is free now that my child is gone. Not hurt. His car flipped over, but he’s still living. My kid, on the other hand, is dead. “It’s not fair.”

Local leaders and elected officials agreed, and they used Javi’s death to introduce a bill called S-2295. It was recently passed unanimously by the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee.

The bill, which was pushed by New Jersey State Sen. Vince Polistina, would make it so that some drunk drivers charged with vehicular homicide would automatically be jailed until their hearing. The bill also says that if someone is found guilty, their driver’s license will be taken away and their car may be seized.

Atlantic County Prosecutor William Reynolds said in a statement, “This heartbreaking case has shown a critical blind spot in our justice system—one that let a dangerous, drunk driver stay free after killing a child.” We shouldn’t need a tragedy to push for change, but the Velez family’s bravery and strength, along with Senator Polistina’s leadership, have made this possible. We are now going towards a safer, more fair system. We are working together to make sure that law enforcement has the tools they need to protect our neighbourhoods after a loss.

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