Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey announced today that a North Plainfield man has been sentenced to serve six years in a New Jersey state prison for causing a drunk-driving crash that killed his passenger on the New Jersey Turnpike in Woodbridge last year.

Carlos Aguirre, 24, was sentenced in New Brunswick on April 1, 2015 by Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves, who said the defendant must complete 85 percent of the term before he can be eligible for parole.

Aguirre was sentenced after he pleaded guilty on January 12, 2015 to counts of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence, saying he was intoxicated on October 19, 2014 when he crashed his car into the rear of a tractor-trailer and killed his passenger, Edward Galvez, 25, also of North Plainfield.

The sentence was imposed after the defendant reached a plea agreement with Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Scott LaMountain.

Aguirre was arrested and charged during an investigation by the New Jersey State Police and Detective Donald Heck of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.

The investigation determined that Aguirre was driving a 2002 Volkswagen Passat in the southbound lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike and crashed into the tractor-trailer shortly before 4:09 a.m., as both vehicles were exiting the roadway and heading toward the Thomas A. Edison Service Area in Woodbridge.

Mr. Galvez was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:39 a.m.