Sunday, January 14, 2018
BURLINGTON CITY, N.J. (WPVI) -- Police said two people were transported to the hospital this afternoon after their car crashed through a metal fence and went into the icy Delaware River, one of whom has died.
According to Burlington County Police, a man and a woman were pulled from the river. The woman has died. Police said an accident did occur before the vehicle went into the water.
It happened just before 1 p.m. near 138 Riverbank Road in Burlington City, New Jersey.
Initial reports indicated that one person was able to get out of the vehicle; however, a second person remained inside.
Michael Baylor lives near the scene of the crash. He said he ran out of his house to help, but it was already too late.
"We were thinking she's been under so if she is alive it is a miracle," said Baylor. "They pulled him out and he said 'My girlfriend is in the car, can you help her?' and when they turned around he ran away."
Authorities confirm the driver fled on foot, leaving the woman behind. They said he was located a short time later and taken to Lourdes Hospital in Willingboro. Officials said he was not seriously injured.
Officials said the woman was extricated from the car around a half-hour later, at 1:27 p.m.
She was also transported to Lourdes Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Police said the driver was speeding on Riverbank Road when he hit a parked minivan and went over the river bank.
On Sunday the temperature of the Delaware River was only in the low 30s.
"With the weather, with the conditions, this is obviously a very severe event," said John Fine with the Burlington City Police Department.
No charges have been filed at this time.
The prosecutor's office said the investigation is ongoing.
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The Burlington City Police Department is investigating after crash leaves one person dead and the driver in custody when their auto ends up in the Delaware River. According to Burlington County Police, a man and a woman were pulled from the river. Police said an accident did occur before the vehicle went into the water.
Police responded to the riverfront promenade near Wood Street in Burlington City around 1 p.m. for a report of a vehicle in the water, the prosecutor's office said. Officials said that person was extricated from the auto around a half-hour later, at 1:27 p.m.
First responders found the vehicle partially submerged after it broke through the ice. The driver had fled the scene on foot, but his female passenger was still in the auto, authorities said. They were pronounced dead Saturday night at Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County in Willingboro.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the auto was traveling at a high rate of speed along Riverbank Road when the vehicle struck a parked minivan "before vaulting over the river wall and into the water", according to the prosecutor's office.
No charges have been filed, but an investigation is underway, the prosecutor's office said. Authorities did not release the names of the driver or passenger.
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3 people killed in two weekend crashes involving submerged vehicles
A woman died Sunday after the car she was riding in crashed through a metal barrier along the Riverfront Promenade in Burlington City and plunged into the icy Delaware River, the second fatal accident in two days in Burlington County involving submerged vehicles.
The Burlington City accident happened about 1 p.m on Riverbank when a vehicle left the road, crashed through the fencing and landed in the river, city police said.
Two people were inside, a male driver and female passenger. The driver, who was identified as a city resident, was able to escape, but the passenger was still in the vehicle when first responders arrived.
The woman was extricated and transported to Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County in Willingboro, where she was pronounced dead, authorities said.
The driver ran off but was located a short time later by officers from Edgewater Park and Beverly. He was taken to Lourdes for a medical evaluation.
The names of the driver and deceased passenger were not released because notification of their families was still pending.
The other fatal crash occurred on Saturday about 4:30 p.m. at the jughandle of Route 130 and Bridgeboro Road in Willingboro. Authorities said a minivan was stopped at a red light and waiting to cross the highway when it was struck by a northbound vehicle, sent through a guard barrier, and down an embankment into Olympia Lakes, where it became submerged.
The occupants — identified as Robert Stephens, 52, and his wife, Janet, 50, of Burlington Township — were pulled from the water by rescue crews. Both were pronounced dead later that evening at Lourdes, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, which is investigating the accident with Willingboro police.
Amish Patel, 29, of Delanco, was identified as the driver of the car that struck the van. Patel was believed to be traveling at an excessive speed, but no charges have been filed, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
“The investigation will focus on whether criminal behavior was responsible for the collision and subsequent deaths,” said Joel Bewley, a spokesman for the Prosecutor’s Office.
The office is also assisting in the investigation of the Burlington City accident, along with numerous first responders, who arrived at the scene within minutes of the initial 911 call of a vehicle submerged in the river. Among the emergency crews were the city, Burlington Township, New Jersey State Police and Croydon, Pennsylvania.
Water rescue crews used a ladder to enter the river at a public parking area across from the Veterans of Foreign Wars building. The vehicle appeared to be submerged, with debris floating nearby on top of chunks of ice.
An investigation into the accident is ongoing, but officials from the Prosecutor’s Office indicated that the car was traveling at a high speed when it struck a minivan parked along the road, then vaulted through the fencing and into the water.
City resident Joe Entwistle, who witnessed the accident from the VFW, said he and several other bystanders tried to assist the occupants. He said a man in his mid to late 30s was on the back of the overturned and submerged vehicle and was helped out of the river.
“Three or four of us pulled him out. He was soaking wet and panicking, saying his girlfriend was in there. Then he took off. I guess he was in shock,” Entwistle said.
He said the vehicle was overturned with “four tires up” and sinking fast when he got to the scene.
Entwistle said he wasn’t sure how long the woman was underwater, but he couldn’t see her from the riverbank.
“It’s a shame. I think they got here pretty fast, but she must have been in there for 15 or 18 minutes,” he said.
City police Capt. John Fine said firefighters and rescue teams worked very quickly and extricated the motorist “within minutes.”
No charges had been filed against the driver as of Sunday night, according to the Prosecutor’s Office. His condition was not available.
The three weekend deaths marked the first traffic fatalities in Burlington County this year, according to New Jersey State Police records. Last year, 49 people died in 47 motor vehicle accidents in the county. Only Ocean County had a higher death toll, with 54.