Accidents block I-295, Route 29

by The Times

Monday December 01, 2008, 10:43 AM

An accident on I-295 north of Exit 65 (Sloan Avenue/Hamilton Township) has closed the right and center lanes, causing a 5-mile traffic backup.

In Ewing, an accident on Route 29 is blocking three of four of the highway's lanes at West Upper Ferry Road, delaying traffic in both directions.

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Woman suffers fractures in three-car collision

by Alex Zdan/The Times

Tuesday November 25, 2008, 5:47 PM

HAMILTON -- A three-car collision on Whitehorse-Hamilton Square Road around 7:45 a.m. Tuesday seriously injured one woman, sending her into emergency surgery at a local hospital, police said.

Hamilton resident Susan Garzio, 79, was driving north on Whitehorse-Hamilton Square Road and was beginning to make a left turn onto Silver Court when she collided head on with a van driven by 42-year-old township resident Donna Deissinger. Police say the impact of the two cars sent Garzio's vehicle careening back into the northbound lane, where it struck the driver's side of a car driven by 62-year-old Hamilton resident Kathleen Krause.

Police said Garzio sustained compound fractures to both legs along with a concussion, and was rushed to Capital Health System at Fuld for surgery. Deissinger complained of pain to her knees, and Krause complained of injury to her chest and shoulder. Both were taken to Robert Wood Johnson at Hamilton hospital, where it was expected they would be treated and released.

Whitehorse-Hamilton Square Road was closed between Cypress Lane and Silver Court for nearly two hours following the crash. Police said Garzio was issued a summons for causing the crash by making an unsafe left turn at the intersection.

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Man with knife startles Ewing driver

by Alex Zdan/The Times

Monday November 24, 2008, 7:35 PM

EWING -- A man with a pocket knife allegedly menaced a driver on North Olden Avenue Sunday evening.

Police said a 20-year-old township man was driving on North Olden near a Chicken Holiday restaurant around 7:45 p.m. when a man ran to the side of his vehicle. The 20-year-old got out to ask the suspect what the matter was, which was when the suspect displayed the knife.

The 20-year-old responded by heading back into his car and driving away from the scene. Police said the suspect fled south onto Pennington Avenue. A full description was not available, and a search of the area by officers did not yield any suspects.

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Burning car may have been stolen

by Alex Zdan/The Times

Monday November 24, 2008, 7:22 PM

TRENTON -- City police are investigating the circumstances of a car fire that occurred early Monday.

Police spokesman Sgt. Pedro Medina said officers were called to Stuyvesant Avenue and Marion Street just before 1 a.m. to assist the fire department on a suspicious fire in a vehicle.

Medina said the fire captain told officers the vehicle had been smoking and shooting flames from the front before firefighters extinguished it. The front windshield, front bumper, and front hood were missing at that time.

Medina said the Levittown, Pa., owner of the vehicle was contacted, and that it was possible the auto had been stolen.

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Body found in Falls is missing Philadelphia man

by The Times

Monday November 24, 2008, 10:15 AM

FALLS, Pa. -- More than five weeks after a vehicle plunged into a wooded area off of Route 1, police have found the body of 27-year-old man in the mangled car in dense brush in the area between the northbound lanes of Route 1 and the exit ramp to Route 32 and Bridge Street.

According to police, Ryan Knoedler of Philadelphia, who was last seen early Oct. 16 when he finished a guest bartending shift in the city's Mayfair section, died from injuries consistent with a car accident and that nothing suspicious has turned up, the Bucks County Courier Times reported.

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Leaky water main keeps workers busy

by Alex Zdan/The Times

Sunday November 23, 2008, 9:46 PM

TRENTON -- Water department work crews were on Passaic Street late Sunday repairing a failed patch from an earlier water main break.

In the first block of the roadway, between Calhoun and Kafer streets, water was slowly filtering out from a six-inch deep hole roughly two feet in diameter.

A worker at the scene said the patch on the water main should be repaired by the department within a few hours of the 9 p.m. breach. Passaic Street was partially closed while the work took place.

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Four teens escape as vehicles sink in West Windsor pond

by Michael Ratcliffe/The Times

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 10:36 PM

WEST WINDSOR -- Four teenage boys "miraculously" escaped serious injury Wednesday when the two vehicles in which they were traveling veered off Conover Road -- missing a utility pole by about a foot -- and sank out of sight in the frigid water of a pond on the Mercer Oaks East golf course, police and emergency officials said.

The four boys -- all 17-year-old township residents whose names were not released -- were able to get out of the vehicles before they became submerged and were able to swim to shore. Two were treated at the scene for "minor injuries," and all four were sent home with their parents, police said.

Trenton Fire Department SCUBA divers were called out to search the large, 10-foot-deep pond for the vehicles and attach cables to them so they could be pulled from the water by tow trucks.

While the crash remains under investigation by Officers Frank Latorre and Lee Evans, township police Lt. Carl Walsh said "speed and driver inexperience" were certainly factors in the crash.

Michael Ratcliffe/The TimesTrenton Fire Department diver Gary Szabo looks on as a tow truck removes a car from the pond next to the 13th green at the Mercer Oaks East golf course in West Windsor Wednesday. Four teenagers escaped unharmed when two vehicles crashed into the pond.

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Driver receives summons after his auto overturns in Hopewell

by Alex Zdan/The Times

Wednesday November 19, 2008, 10:29 PM

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP -- Two teens were hurt after the car they were riding in went out of control and overturned Tuesday evening, police reported.

Police said two unidentified township males, the 17-year-old driver and a 16-year-old passenger, were traveling eastbound on Pennington-Titusville Road just after 6 p.m. when the car's passenger-side tires hit the gravel shoulder of the road, the driver attempted to steer back toward the left and lost control of the vehicle.

The car crossed into the westbound lane and went off the roadway, where it hit a drainage ditch. The auto then rolled over and slid along the road for about 150 feet.

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Route 571 closed for over 7 hours following crash in West Windsor

by The Times

Friday November 14, 2008, 10:02 PM

WEST WINDSOR -- A township woman and three of her four children were injured when their vehicle crashed into a utility pole and flipped over on Route 571 Friday, police said.

The crash snapped the utility pole in half, dropping electrical wires onto the road and forcing police to shut Route 571 for more than seven hours.

Lt. Carl Walsh said the accident occurred about 12:15 p.m. when Sanja Dimic, 43, of West Windsor, lost control of her vehicle while driving west on Route 571 (Princeton-Hightstown Road), about 600 feet east of Rabbit Hill Road.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation by Officer Lee Evans, but it appears Dimic was driving too fast along the rain-slick roadway, he said.

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Lawrence police catch Yardley man who allegedly fled crash scene

by Kevin Shea/The Times

Friday November 14, 2008, 6:28 PM

LAWRENCE -- A Yardley, Pa. man allegedly fled a motor-vehicle collision on Princeton Pike Friday afternoon, then was pulled over by police officers in front of police headquarters.

Jonathan R. Oerth, 20, was allegedly under the influence of alcohol or drugs when he collided with a car driven by Lissette Barrios, 22, of Trenton, at about 2:45 p.m., police said.

Police said Oerth was pulling out of a gasoline station at Princeton Pike and Route 206 and slammed into Barrios' car, which was southbound, but then kept driving.

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Route 571 closed in West Windsor following crash

by Kevin Shea/The Times

Friday November 14, 2008, 5:15 PM

WEST WINDSOR -- Route 571 remains closed between Rabbit Hill Road and Southfield Road at 4 p.m. following a motor-vehicle crash that occurred at about 12:30 p.m. Friday.

A van flipped over and brought down utility lines onto Route 571, police said. Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) crews remain on the scene.

At least one person was seriously injured in the crash and had to be cut free by first responders.

Check back for more on this story.

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Rt. 29 ramp from Lalor Street closed

by The Times

Friday November 14, 2008, 9:49 AM

TRENTON -- The northbound entrance ramp to Route 29 from Lalor Street is closed for construction work until 3:30 p.m. Friday. A detour is posted.

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Two injured in head-on collision in Hamilton

by Michael Ratcliffe/The Times

Thursday November 13, 2008, 9:47 PM

HAMILTON -- A two-car collision that injured both drivers is under investigation by township police and the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.

The accident occurred about 7:30 a.m. Thursday on Nottingham Way near Whitehorse-Hamilton Square Road.

Police said Jason Marinko, 30, of Hamilton, was driving eastbound on Nottingham Way when his car swerved into the oncoming lane and collided head-on with the car being driven by Andrew Laverty, 27, of Robbinsville.

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Lawrence accident under investigation by police

by Alex Zdan/The Times

Tuesday November 11, 2008, 7:36 PM

LAWRENCE -- A crash between a bus and a truck Monday morning left several passengers and the bus driver with minor injuries, police said.

Just before 10:50 a.m., 58-year-old Sylvia Carthans was driving a NJ Transit bus northbound on Princeton Avenue. A truck driven by 32-year-old Lawrence resident Walter Bonczkiewicz Jr. was trying to make a right turn from Helen Avenue onto Princeton Avenue at the same time.

Police say it is not known whether the bus or the truck crossed the yellow line in the roadway, resulting in the collision.

Of the 24 passengers on the bus, seven complained of back pain and three were taken to the hospital. Carthans complained of pain in her right shoulder but refused medical attention, while Bonczkiewicz was uninjured, police said.

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Fallen tree, wires snarl traffic on Rt. 29 in Hopewell Twp.

by The Times

Thursday November 06, 2008, 9:11 AM

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP -- A downed tree and wires are causing detours on Route 29 in both directions south of Church Road in the township's Titusville section.

Allow extra travel time.

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