A 47-year-old pharmaceutical executive from New Jersey has been charged with aggravated manslaughter, vehicular homicide and assault by auto in connection with a high-speed, wrong-way crash that killed a former Olympic swimmer.
Brick Township resident Brian Baldari is accused of causing the death of 66-year-old Edwin Borja following a multi-vehicle collision in Lakewood in the early hours of March 7.
According to Ocean County prosecutors, Baldari was driving more than 100 mph in the wrong direction for roughly 2 miles when the crash occurred on Route 70 shortly before 6 a.m.
A subsequent investigation revealed that Baldari’s Cadillac CT5 Blackwing had been traveling westbound in the eastbound lane when it collided head-on with Borja’s Mazda CX5, setting off a sequence of events involving a total of eight vehicles.
As a result of the crash, Baldari’s Cadillac caught fire with him trapped inside. He was extracted and airlifted to a Jersey Shore hospital and and later transferred to the Weill Cornell Medicine Burn Center on the Upper East Side.
Borja was similarly airlifted to a hospital, but died from his injuries 11 days after the crash.
Another person involved in the chaotic encounter was treated for their injuries in New Jersey and later released. The drivers of the other vehicles escaped the incident uninjured.
Baldari was formally charged on Wednesday and surrendered to the Lakewood Township Police Headquarters, according to prosecutors. He was then transported to the Ocean County Jail where he remains pending a detention hearing.
A LinkedIn page for Baldari describes him as an “award-winning executive pharmaceutical marketing leader specialized in global end-to-end brand development.” He attended Rutgers University and worked for Allergan, Novartis and Otsuka in New Jersey. His current role is listed as the VP of franchise portfolio management with Azurity Pharmaceuticals.
Borja lived in Manchester, N.J., but originally hailed from the Philippines. He was a member of the Philippine Olympic Swim Team for the 1972 and 1976 summer games. The father of two was predeceased by his wife in 2019, according to an online obituary.
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