Kevin Roper Pleads Not Guilty to Charges Related to Crash That Left Tracy Morgan Critically Injured

Roper faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on all charges, which include vehicular homicide and assault by auto

Photo: Dave Kotinsky/Getty

Kevin Roper, the driver behind the wheel of the big rig that was involved in an accident that left actor and comedian Tracy Morgan critically injured and another man dead, pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide and assault by auto during an arraignment in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on Wednesday.

Roper faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on all charges, Jim O’Neill, the spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, tells PEOPLE.

According to a complaint filed by New Jersey State Police, Roper was awake for more than 24 hours before slamming his Walmart truck into a limo carrying Morgan and his party early Saturday morning on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Roper is free on $50,000 bail, and assistant prosecutor Sheree Pitchford made no request to change that.

“The bail will be continued as set,” Judge Bradley Ferencz said. He added that a review of Roper’s driving history is clean.

When Ferencz warned Roper, who wore a white button-down shirt and dark dress pants, to always make his whereabouts known, he quietly said, “Yes sir.”

Roper’s attorney, David Glassman of Philadelphia, assured Ferencz his client will always be reachable and show up for future court appearances.

Roper remained silent as reporters swarmed around him as he walked out of the courtroom.

No future court date has been set, O’Neill told PEOPLE.

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