Buffalo man sentenced to prison in connection to deadly wrong-way crash on 190

A Buffalo man has been sentenced to prison in connection to a deadly wrong-way crash on 190 in August 2023.

The Erie County District Attorney's Office announced that 53-year-old Guillermo Morales was sentenced in State Supreme Court to an indeterminate sentence of five to 15 years in prison.

The district attorney's office said on August 12, 2023, Morales was driving under the influence of alcohol and a drug when he caused a collision on I-190 near the Scajaquada Expressway in Buffalo. He was driving on the wrong side of the 190 when he crashed head-on into another vehicle. The driver of the other vehicle, 38-year-old Matthew J. Czop of Tonawanda, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Morales was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and was arraigned the same day while hospitalized at ECMC.

The DA said during the investigation Morales was found in possession of a quantity of cocaine.

Morales pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, one count of second-degree manslaughter, one count of fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and one count of first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation in April.