A "typical" under-riding crash.
FORT LEE, New Jersey (WABC) --
Around 9 p.m., a GMC Acadia and a box truck crashed on the upper level of the bridge, coming into New York City. The Port Authority said the Acadia with New Jersey plates struck the rear of the truck, which was stopped in traffic. Based on the massive damage to the GMC Acadia, the driver must have been driving at an excessive rate of speed and /or being inattentive. The SUV then went under the box truck (a so-called under-riding crash). Hector Pedercini was also called "road runner" for his speed.
The two who were killed have been identified as 50-year-old Hector Pedercini and 5-year-old Marianna Pedercini. They were pronounced dead at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital.
There were three other people inside the SUV: a 40-year-old woman, a 64-year-old woman, and a 1-year-old girl.
The other injured passengers also were taken to Columbia-Presbyterian.
The people in the SUV are all members of a family from Howell, New Jersey, but Port Authority Police are working out their exact connections.
The baby and two adult women are serious but stable.
Authorities believe the family was returning from a party in New Jersey.
The driver of the box truck (a 2008 International Box Truck), a 59-year-old man, was not hurt.
All inbound upper level lanes were closed for several hours after the crash. The upper level was completely reopened at around 2:30 a.m., but there were inbound delays unconnected to the crash.
An investigation into the cause of the crash is underway.
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A typical 2008 International Box Truck
A day of happiness turned into a nightmare for a New Jersey family involved in a deadly car crash on the George Washington Bridge.
Several balloons from a recent celebration were found floating inside the mangled SUV a man and his daughter were killed in on Wednesday, sources close to the case said.
“It appears they may have been returning from a party,” the source said.
The GMC Acadia carrying a Howell, N.J., family slammed into the back of a box truck on the transverse roadway in Manhattan around 9 p.m., authorities said.
The box truck was stopped in traffic when the SUV plowed in to it.
The five people in the vehicle were rushed to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia with massive injuries, Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo said.
GMC driver Hector Pedercini, 50, and 5-year-old Marianna Pedercini died at the hospital, authorities said.
The SUV carrying a family from New Jersey was destroyed in a crash involving a box truck on the George Washington Bridge on Wednesday.
(Obtained by News)The 59-year-old driver of the box truck was not harmed.
Neighbors were stunned by the tragedy.
“I feel so numb. This is crazy,” said one 56-year-old neighbor who wished not to be named. “The baby was so smart, she was so happy, so cute. This is devastation. I want to cry, but I’m shocked.”
Neighbor Lucille Garajuso-Payson, 45, agreed.
"See how short life is?” she said. “In a blink of an eye it can be gone."
The GMC Acadia carrying the family slammed into the back of a box truck on the Manhattan-bound side of the Hudson River span around 9 p.m.
(Sam Costanza/for New York Daily News)“Hector drives by every day, beeps and waves,” she remembered. “I call him the road runner.”
“He's friendly with everyone,” she said. “When (Hurricane) Sandy hit, he owns a few Haagen-Dazs, he gave the neighbor's gallons of whipped cream, ice cream, milk and everything."
Little Marianna was a plucky child who had no problems engaging with grown-ups, neighbor, Jose Chaparro said.
"She wasn't shy,” Chaparro, 68, recalled.
“She'd come right up to you and start a conversation, just a little one. I asked her if she'd go to school and she said, 'No! My mommy taught me everything I need to know already.' She wanted to know everything that's going on.”
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FORT LEE, NJ — A Howell Township father and his 5-year-old daughter have died as a result of a crash on the George Washington Bridge Wednesday night that sent three other family members to the hospital, police said Thursday.
Five-year-old Marianna Pedercini and her father, Hector Pedercini, 50, of Howell, were pronounced dead at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York, Port Authority Police said.
Hector's wife, Mariella Pedercini, 40, their 1-year-old child, whose name was not released, and her mother, 64-year-old Elda Lainez, also of Howell, were injured in the crash and they too were taken to Columbia Presbyterian, police said.
Police said the crash occurred when the family's GMC Acadia struck the back of a 2008 International box truck that was stopped in the left lane on the eastbound upper level on the New York side of the bridge shortly before 9 p.m.
A real cover-up in Maryland; could the governor face charges in Maryland; and why Carrie Fisher died.
The 59-year-old driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured, police said. The crash remains under investigation.
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Family files lawsuit against PJ Trailer Manufacturing Inc., a tractor-trailer manufacturer, after deadly crash for lack of side under-riding guard
Author: Jonathan Martinez, Anchor/Reporter, jmartinez@kprc.com
Published On: August 27 2015
HOUSTON, TEXAS -
A family lost a loving mother and devoted wife when she died from injuries sustained in a crash, something her loved ones say was entirely preventable.
The family filed a lawsuit Tuesday in a district court in Harris County against PJ Trailer Manufacturing Inc. The suit stems from a deadly car accident involving a tractor-trailer last year.
In the lawsuit the family claims if certain "safety regulations" were in place their relative would still be alive today.
Pictures show the mangled mess from the early morning crash on June 11, 2014, along Louetta and TC Jester in Spring. Kathryn Dodgen was driving to work in Houston when she slammed into a 40-foot flatdeck trailer.
"Her vehicle had gone underneath a trailer that was blocking all the lanes," said Dodgen's daughter, Lauren Bernard.
After suffering severe head trauma and undergoing two brain surgeries, Dodgen fell into a coma. She died 131 days after the crash. She was 54.
"Seeing my mom go through the pain and suffering she went through, I could never really describe it," Bernard said.
The lawsuit claims if the trailer had a "side under ride guard," their relative would still be alive.
"If there were a world full of Kathys, my mom, we'd be in a much better place," said Bernard.
"At minimum, the trailer industry has put their heads in the sands about the safety issues for decades," said attorney Stephen Fernelius.
In addition to monetary damages for pain and suffering, the hopes are the lawsuit also sends a message to trucking companies.
"Please make the effort and time to make everything safer for others. They can do it, and they have chosen not to," Bernard said.
Next up is a court date which has not been set.
