JERSEY CITY, N.J. (WABC) --
The chain-reaction crash happened just after 8 p.m. Sunday on Ocean Avenue near Myrtle Avenue.
According to eyewitnesses, the driver was in a red minivan.
Jersey City Spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said the driver was speeding on Ocean Avenue when he lost control, and rear-ended another vehicle, sending the second car onto the sidewalk where people were standing. Five people were struck, including three Jersey City police officers.
"I
seen the van coming full speed, so I figured he had room to go around
me," said the 52-year old man in the parked car, who didn't want to be
identified. "He must have clipped my bumper, driver's side. He knocked me and jumped onto the sidewalk where I must have hit two police."
His Nissan flew onto the sidewalk and right into the group of pedestrians. "I felt that sharp pain went down my neck. I just laid back and that's all I remember," he said.
Two of the three officers have since been released from the hospital, as well as the two people struck. The officer who remains in the hospital is in stable condition. We're told she has a severe leg injury.
Morrill said two passengers in the car that caused the crash were taken to the hospital but refused treatment and left.
A police officer was among several people hurt when an out of control minivan slammed into a police car in Jersey City Sunday night.According to police, the driver who caused the crash, 30-year-old Keith Jeffers, of Wegman Parkway, tried to leave the crash scene, but officers were able to take him into custody.
He's been charged with four counts of assault by auto, knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident with serious bodily injury and driving while intoxicated.