Most car accidents are civil matters — insurance, injury claims, traffic tickets. But when a crash involves reckless driving and someone gets hurt, New Jersey can charge the driver with a crime: assault by auto, under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1c. It’s the charge that turns a bad accident into a criminal case, and it escalates sharply when alcohol or drugs are involved.
What assault by auto requires
At its core, assault by auto means driving recklessly and causing injury to another person. Ordinary negligence — a momentary lapse — isn’t enough; the State generally has to show reckless conduct, a conscious disregard of a substantial risk. The grading then depends on two things: how serious the injury was, and whether the driver was impaired.
How the grading works
- Reckless driving causing bodily injury — generally a disorderly persons offense.
- Reckless driving causing serious bodily injury — a fourth-degree crime (indictable).
- Driving while intoxicated and causing injury — elevated grading, with school-zone and similar enhancements raising it further.
“Serious bodily injury” is a defined, high threshold — injury creating a substantial risk of death, or causing serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss/impairment of a body function — and whether an injury meets it is frequently contested.
A criminal case AND everything else
Assault by auto rarely travels alone. The same crash can produce a DWI charge under 39:4-50, separate traffic tickets like reckless driving, and a civil personal-injury claim by the person who was hurt. These proceedings run on different tracks with different burdens of proof, and what happens in one can affect the others — which is why the criminal exposure has to be defended with the whole picture in mind.
Where these cases get defended
- Recklessness — whether the driving was truly reckless or “only” negligent, which can be the line between a crime and no crime.
- Causation — whether the driving actually caused the injury.
- The seriousness of the injury — whether it meets the “serious bodily injury” threshold that drives the grade.
- The DWI evidence — the stop, the field sobriety tests, and the Alcotest or blood evidence, since impairment drives the elevated grading.
For eligible defendants, diversion such as Pretrial Intervention may be possible depending on the grade and record.
Charged with assault by auto? This is a criminal case — treat it like one
Because impairment and injury can push this charge into indictable territory with real prison exposure, it’s far more serious than the traffic tickets that may come with it. If you’re facing a 2C:12-1c charge anywhere in New Jersey, it’s worth a free call right away.
Part of our complete guide: For every related New Jersey offense, claim, and defense in one place, see our NJ Criminal Charges Guide.