Every day there is saddening news with regard to fatal DWI incidences. My condolences to the family, and I am hopeful Mr. Brozyna will think twice before getting behind the wheel while intoxicated.

FREEHOLD, N.J. (AP) — A former New Jersey state trooper was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for a drunken-driving crash that killed a man whose vehicle he rear-ended.

Christopher Brozyna, 29, of Hazlet resigned from the state police immediately after pleading guilty last November to vehicular homicide and drunken driving in state Superior Court in Freehold.

The crash on Sept. 14, 2007, on Route 35 in Middletown Township killed 55-year-old Ernesto Stamaria of Old Bridge.

Brozyna was off duty and driving his personal vehicle at the time.

His blood alcohol level was “substantially in excess”” of New Jersey's limit of 0.08 percent, Monmouth County prosecutor Luis Valentin said.