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Former "Melrose Place" acress Amy Locane-Bovenizer, left, exits court after her first appearance before Somerset County Superior Court Judge Robert Reed today in Somerville. She is charged with drunken driving in a crash in Montgomery that left a woman dead and a man injured.
Authorities say actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer, charged in a fatal drunk-driving crash that killed a Montgomery woman Sunday night, was also involved in minor hit-and-run collision in Princeton just prior.
Around 9 p.m., the former "Melrose Place" actress was driving a 2007 Chevy Tahoe north on Cherry Hill Road in Montgomery when she struck the passenger side of a 2010 Mercury Milan as it was turning into a driveway, court papers said.
Helene Seeman was pronounced dead the scene. Fred Seeman, who was driving, was flown to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where he is listed in critical condition this afternoon.
Earlier, Locane-Bovenizer crashed into another car as she was driving in Princeton, Somerset County Acting Prosecutor A. Peter DeMarco, Jr. said in a statement.
Locane-Bovenizer, 38, whose films include "Airheads" and "Crybaby," rear-ended a car at an intersection in Princeton several miles from the second crash, DeMarco said. When the driver of the other car tried to phone police, Locane-Bovenizer got back in her SUV and drove off, the prosecutor said.
The other driver followed her, telling police she was "swerving and knocking down several mailboxes."
Later Sunday evening, after the fatal crash, the actress admitted to police that she had consumed several glasses of wine prior to driving, according to court papers. She is charged with second-degree vehicular homicide and third-degree assault by auto.
Officers allegedly smelled alcohol and reported the actress’ eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and her speech was slurred. She was arrested and transferred to University Medical Center in Princeton, where her blood was tested.
The actress was in tears as she arrived in Superior Court in Somerville this afternoon, where she was arraigned before Superior Court Judge Robert Reed. Bail was set today at $50,000, cash or bond.
If convicted, the woman would face five to 10 years in state prison. She would have to serve 85 percent of the term without parole.
A Trenton native, Locane-Bovenizer lives with her husband and two children in Hopewell. She is acting in the play "Miss Connections" at the borough’s Off-Broadstreet Theatre, which held a matinee showing Sunday.
Source: nj.com