February 13, 2024
Bill Oxford/Unsplash
Gerald White, 38, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a crash that killed two people during the H2oi car rally in Wildwood in September 2022.
A Delaware man will spend 25 years in prison for driving drunk and crashing his car during an unsanctioned car rally in Wildwood, killing a passenger in another car and a pedestrian.
Gerald White, 38, of New Castle, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in December to aggravated manslaughter and aggravated assault charges. The crash happened during the H2oi car rally that brought more than 500 vehicles to the Jersey Shore town on Sept. 24, 2022 for drag racing, drifting and burnouts.
White allegedly was fleeing from the scene of another crash around 9:30 p.m. when his Infiniti struck a Honda Civic near Burk and Atlantic avenues. The Infiniti then hit two pedestrians, police said. White attempted to flee again, but was quickly taken into custody, prosecutors said.
The crash killed Honda passenger Timothy Ogden, 34, of Clayton, New Jersey, and pedestrian Lindsay Weakland, 18, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
White, who previously was listed as a Pittsburgh resident, had a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit at the time of the crash, investigators said. His sentence will require him to serve 85% of his term before he becomes eligible for parole.
He had rejected an earlier plea agreement last February. His attorney sought a 15-year term at last week's sentencing hearing, but Superior Court Judge J. Christopher Gibson decided on 25 years due to White's criminal history, the Associated Press reported.
The first H2oi rally was organized in September 2010 and was held for several years in Ocean City, Maryland, before leaders there increased fines for speeding and doing burnouts in 2018. The rally, widely promoted on social media, then moved to other locations including Wildwood in subsequent years.
Four people were charged with crimes connected to the 2022 rally in Wildwood.
Eryk Wnek, 23, of Linden, New Jersey, was charged for allegedly crashing his BMW into a golf cart that had six people in it. Joshua Bocchino, 20, of Long Branch, was charged with allegedly assaulting a police officer during the rally. And Zion Diaz, 19, of Hammonton, was charged with rioting for allegedly encouraging drivers to block intersections.
Hundreds of tickets and summonses were issued for violations that took place during the event, which spilled into the surrounding community of Rio Grande.
"Directing hundreds if not thousands of people driving high performance vehicles to an area without any planning, staging or permitting created the chaos that led to these deaths and injuries," Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland said the day after the event.
Last September, Wildwood leaders warned promoters of the H2oi rally not to return again. Officials said they would seek to triple the cost of fines for traffic violations and towing charges linked to unsanctioned car rallies, but those changes would require approval from the state legislature.
