Jason Vanderee, the allegedly doped-up driver who crashed into a Wayne gas station last week and killed three people, was ordered held without bail while he awaits presentation of the case to a grand jury.

Vanderee's head hung low as he made his first appearance in Superior Court before Judge Ernest M. Caposela.

The judge read the litany of charges against the 29-year-old Vernon man with a history of drug abuse: three counts of aggravated manslaughter, three counts of vehicular homicide while intoxicated, possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia.

Vanderee required a dose of naloxone, a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, commonly referred to by its brand name, Narcan, when paramedics arrived at the crash scene last week. Police said they found several bags of heroin in Vanderee's Honda Pilot. One of the bags was empty, and a used hypodermic needle was found on the floor, according to court records.

Vanderee's attorney, John Latoracca, did not contest the prosecution's bid to keep the defendant behind bars while his case goes to the grand jury.

Latoracca acknowledged that ultimately it will be up to the criminal justice system to determine whether the crash at the Delta station on Route 23 north that killed Jon Warbeck, his 17-year-old son, Luke Warbeck, and Lovedeep Fatra, a gas station attendant, was a crime or just a tragic accident.

"Jason feels the overwhelming responsibility for the deaths," Latoracca told Caposela.

The judge asked Vanderee if there was anything he would like to say, but he declined.

Members of the Warbeck family sat on one side of the Paterson courtroom, while Vanderee's mother and father, Jean and Walter Vanderee, and other family members occupied the the other side. Fatra's family members also attended the hearing.

Although the mood in the courtroom was tense, there were no outbursts, and both sides filed out quietly at the conclusion of the hour-long hearing.

Under New Jersey's 2017 bail reform law, there is a presumption that a defendant should be released to await further proceedings. The judge noted that only in cases that involve homicide is there a presumption that the defendant should remain incarcerated.

There are exceptions, however.

Assistant Prosecutor Julie Serfess pointed to Vanderee's arrest in November 2016 in an eerily similar case. That day, Vanderee crashed his car into a guardrail on Route 80 west in Fairfield, and when police arrived, they found him passed out behind the wheel, she told the judge.

Suspecting a drug overdose, the Fairfield ambulance squad revived Vanderee using naxolone. Police searched the car and found 20 bags of heroin and syringes, and Vanderee was arrested and charged with drug possession and driving while intoxicated.

He pleaded guilty in 2017 to driving while intoxicated, and a judge suspended his license for seven months. As part of that plea, the drug charges against him were dropped.

Serfess argued that Vanderee's history of drug abuse made him a danger to the community, and Latoracca did not contest the issue.

"Jason has struggled for many, many years with addiction," Latoracca said.

Caposela reasoned that there was no amount of bail that he could impose that wouldn't jeopardize the community, and Vanderee was taken back to the Passaic County Jail.