A new criminal complaint has been filed against a man charged with vehicular homicide in Gloucester County after authorities learned he gave them a false name.
The man, who claimed he was from the United Kingdom, was charged in a Sunday night crash in West Deptford. Police originally identified him as Steve Hall, 28, of Waltham Cross, United Kingdom, based on his identification.
Investigators now say the man is actually 24-year-old George Linard, according to the new complaint.
A copy of Linard’s arrest report, provided by the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday in response to an Open Public Records Request filed by NJ Advance Media, listed his place of birth as Ukraine and indicated that he is an undocumented immigrant.
The report also indicated that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been notified of his arrest.
Linard is also wanted on unrelated drug and money laundering charges in Bergen County, authorities said.
In addition to charges of second-degree death by auto and two counts of fourth-degree assault by auto in Gloucester County, the new complaint charges Linard with providing false identification to police in the form of a U.K. “driving license” with the name Steve Hall.
Police determined Wednesday that Hall was a false name, according to the complaint.
The fatal crash occurred near the intersection of Red Bank and Hessian avenues in West Deptford shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday.
The incident began when West Deptford police responded to a call shortly after 5:30 p.m. reporting two intoxicated men at the PS Gas and Food Mart in the neighboring borough of National Park, according to the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office.
West Deptford police patrol the borough.
When officers arrived at the Hessian Avenue business, they spotted a white car that matched the description of the one belonging to the men.
Officers approached the vehicle, but it “quickly departed” the gas station onto Hessian Avenue, according to the new complaint.
The vehicle fled at a high rate of speed and an officer in a marked West Deptford police car used emergency lights to try to pull it over, police said.
At the intersection of Hessian and Red Bank avenues, the car disregarded a red light and struck the driver’s side of a Honda Accord at a high rate of speed, according to police.
The Accord then struck a Toyota Rav4 that was stopped at the red light facing the opposite direction on Hessian.
The driver of the Honda was killed, while a passenger in the rear of that vehicle suffered a broken leg, police said. The passenger told investigators the vehicle was T-boned by Linard’s vehicle.
Linard and his front-seat passenger suffered significant bodily injuries, police said, with the earlier complaint stating that the passenger suffered a dislocated hip.
The two occupants in the Rav4 suffered non-life threatening injuries, police said.
Authorities have not identified the driver who was killed. But friends and family of the injured passenger said the vehicle was an Uber. A GoFundMe was established to help the injured passenger. She needed surgery for a broken femur and tibia and will require months of recovery, according to the fundraiser.
Representatives for Uber have not confirmed if one of their drivers died in the crash.
A witness to the incident reported seeing police lights in the distance and Linard’s vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed before the crash, investigators said.
Linard appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash, according to the complaint filed by police.
The passenger in Linard’s vehicle also had a U.K. “driving license,” police said in the new complaint, though his identity was redacted in the complaint.
The defendant will remain in custody until a detention hearing on Monday, a judge said during Linard’s first court hearing on Wednesday. Prosecutors have filed a motion to keep him jailed until trial.
The new complaint stated that he was in custody but currently at Cooper University Hospital in Camden.
Because the fatal crash involved an encounter with police, the state Attorney General’s office is also investigating the matter.
In the Bergen County case, police in Rochelle Park charged Linard following a traffic stop in September 2024.
He appeared visibly impaired and there were numerous open beer containers in the vehicle, police said in his criminal complaint.
Police found suspected cocaine and steroids in the vehicle, a stolen debit card, and $32,033 dollars in cash, which was believed to be derived from criminal activity, according to police. The cash was found in a sock and Linard’s wallet, police said.
They also found a U.K. driver’s license with Linard’s photo but a fake name of Steve Pike, according to his criminal complaint.
A passenger in the vehicle was arrested on a drug offense, police said.
Linard denied that the vehicle was his or that any of the recovered items belonged to him, police said.
He was indicted in April on third degree counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance and money laundering, along with two fourth-degree counts of possessing a false government-issued ID.
A warrant was issued after Linard missed his post-indictment arraignment hearing in May, according to court records.
Court filings in the Bergen County case list his address in the Morganville section of Marlboro in Monmouth County. The new complaint in the Gloucester County case does not list an address.
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