The Middlesex County Prosecutor?s Office has charged a North Brunswick police lieutenant with vehicular homicide for a crash that killed a colleague on August 12.

Investigators say Lt. Keith Buckley and Lt. Christopher Zerby were traveling 94 mph on Route 130 in North Brunswick when Buckley lost control of a rented Dodge Viper and crashed into a utility pole. Lt. Buckley escaped the wreckage with minor injuries but Zerby did not survive.

Buckley is free on $70,000 bail. He is suspended with pay pending an indictment.

Buckley's lawyer says his client is devastated and should not be charged with such a serious offense.

"What I said upstairs is that it's an accident, not a crime," says attorney Robert Gluck. "It's a terrible tragedy that has devastated two families already. What can you say about it? I mean it's just a horrible, horrible thing to occur."