#Army sergeant convicted in fatal crash that killed West Point cadet

Enlarge Image

Christopher J. Morgan, 22, was killed in the June 2019 crash that also injured 19 cadets and two soldiers.
U.S. Military Academy at West Point

A US Army sergeant was found guilty of negligent homicide and sentenced to three years confinement for a military vehicle accident last year that killed a West Point cadet, according to a report.

Staff Sgt. Ladonies Strong was convicted by a panel of eight officers and soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia, according to a release from the base Wednesday, the Times Herald-Record reported.

Strong was behind the wheel of a 2.5-ton tactical transport truck that veered off the road on June 6, 2019, and flipped down a steep embankment, injuring 19 cadets and two soldiers — and killing 22-year-old Christopher “CJ” Morgan of West Orange, New Jersey.

Strong was charged with involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, prevention of authorized seizure of property, reckless operation of a vehicle and dereliction of duty in September. He was convicted at the Georgia base on Saturday, the Herald-Record said.

“There are no winners in this case,” the dead cadet’s mother, April Puckett Morgan, said on Facebook Tuesday.

“All we want more than anything in this world is to have CJ with us, to see him graduate from the United States Military Academy, commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Army and helping him move to his first Army base,” she wrote. “This gives us a smidgen of justice and relief.”

“We now can MOVE FORWARD and complete CJs mission of service to others,” Puckett Morgan said. “Our hearts will forever be broken but we will carry CJ with us always.”

Morgan was majoring in legal studies at West Point and was on the academy’s wrestling team. He was a standout student-athlete at West Orange High School before entering West Point, the Herald-Record said.

The accident that took his life happened near Camp Natural Bridge, a summer training site for cadets in Cornwall.

Commanders at Fort Stewart, home of 3rd Infantry Division, ordered a general court-martial for Strong in December following an investigation into the crash. His trial began on July 13 and concluded Saturday.