The man who died in a crash Tuesday in Northampton County was fleeing police who wanted to pull him over for a suspended license, according to authorities and court records.
Instead of pulling over, Jimmy J. Nguyen, 23, of Moore Township fled after police learned there was an issue with his driver’s license, according to state police Troop M commander Capt. Joseph Sokolofski. Court records show that Nguyen’s license was suspended for at least one year on June 19, 2020, following guilty pleas related to a pair of drunken driving charges.
Nguyen was speeding east on Route 248 in Lower Nazareth Township at 2 p.m. Tuesday as he eluded police, when he clipped an SUV in the opposite lane near Jandy Boulevard, police say. Nguyen lost control, hit another SUV, injuring that driver, and then slammed into a concrete barrier, authorities say.
Melvin Nguyen, one of Nguyen’s twin brothers, was at his job Tuesday afternoon near the crash scene in Lower Nazareth Township when he heard sirens.
“I just had a bad feeling in my gut,” he said Wednesday, outside the family’s Moore Township home. “I don’t know why; I just had a bad feeling.”
Later Wednesday, Melvin Nguyen said by telephone that his brother had phoned him minutes before the fatal crash, telling Melvin Nguyen that he was being chased by police and seeking help.
“I know he didn’t mean to hurt anybody,” Melvin Nguyen said. “He even told me ‘I’m not trying to cause an accident.’ He was just scared.”
Melvin Nguyen and his twin brother, Kevin, said their older brother was an ambitious young man who had goals in life. He was one year older than the twins, but they said they felt connected, almost like “triplets.”
The brothers, whose parents, Thang and Mary Nguyen, came to the Lehigh Valley from Vietnam, are Valley natives. The twins recalled their brother as a conscientious student, who graduated in 2016 from Northampton Area High School and studied dental hygiene at Northampton Community College before deciding to drop out in his second year.
He then shifted career goals, working with a cousin who is a contractor at maintaining and flipping houses, the brothers said.
“He was just very hardworking,” Kevin Nguyen said. “He would go to school, get [his school work] done, then go to work. He was very ambitious; he had a lot of goals in life.”
The brothers also said he was fluent in Vietnamese and attended the 2 p.m. Sunday Mass in that language at Saints Simon and Jude Roman Catholic Church in west Bethlehem, normally celebrated by the Rev. Abraham Ha, parochial vicar of St. Ann Parish in Emmaus.
“He’s a faithful Christian; he would go to Mass every Sunday,” said Ha, who visited the family Tuesday after they learned of the crash. “After Mass, he would come and ask me how I’m doing.”
“He was really about the Vietnamese culture,” Melvin Nguyen said, noting that the three brothers visited Vietnam in 2019 with their father.
Court records show Jimmy Nguyen pleaded guilty in June 2020 to a pair of drunken driving arrests from 2019.
Nguyen pleaded guilty to drunken driving and speeding for a May 2019 incident and was sentenced to 30 days to six months in jail. He also pleaded guilty to drunken driving and accidents involving damage to property from July 2019. He received a sentence of 10 days to two months and one year probation in the case.
It was not clear from online court documents how much time Nguyen ultimately served in either case.
But on Wednesday, his brothers weren’t thinking of these past transgressions. They were awaiting relatives and planning to pray for his soul, hoping “he goes to a better place,” Melvin Nguyen said.
Northampton County District Attorney Terry Houck said he was awaiting a full crash report, but thus far, it appeared police followed proper protocols in executing the chase. Sokolofski said state police will conduct an internal investigation, as they do with all incidents that lead to serious injury or death.
The trooper who led the chase was placed on administrative leave to ensure they receive counseling or support if necessary, Sokolofski said.
He said police chases have been on the rise in the area.
“It’s very concerning,” Sokolofski said. “Besides putting themselves and others in danger, the person engaging in a pursuit is facing a felony charge that carries six years in prison. That’s usually more severe than whatever it is they would not stop and take responsibility for.”
When authorities are pursuing a dangerous felon, Sokolofski said, police usually continue the chase no matter what. But for other incidents, factors such as traffic and the nature of the crime help determine whether the pursuit is called off.
“It’s a matter of, does the risk of pursuit outweigh the person not being apprehended? The last thing any trooper wants is to hurt an innocent person,” Sokolofski said.
Part of the internal investigations will be to determine whether these considerations were properly applied in this case, according to Sokolofski.
Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone can be reached at asalamone@mcall.com.
