Sgt Jon
09-08-2008, 07:49
(New Jersey)
Belleville police officer killed, another injured in car crash
by Kasi Addison and Nyier Abdou/The Star-Ledger
Saturday September 06, 2008, 10:09 AM
A Belleville police officer was killed this morning when he lost control of his cruiser after it was hit by another vehicle at the Belleville-Nutley border. A second officer in the cruiser was seriously injured, Mayor Raymond Kimble confirmed.
The two officers were at the intersection of Union Avenue and King Street at about 8 a.m. when another vehicle apparently ran a stop sign and collided with the cruiser, a second city official said. The male officer driving the cruiser lost control and crashed. He and the other officer were ejected, the official said.
Neither officer has been identified.
The male officer was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the official said. The other officer, a female, was taken to University Hospital in Newark where she was listed in serious condition.
No other details were imediately available and the condition of the driver of the other car was not immediately known.
"We hate to see any police officer lose their lives in the line of duty and our hearts and prayers go out to the family," Kimble said.
The Belleville officer is the third in New Jersey to die in a traffic accident in less than a month.
On Aug. 12, North Brunswick Lt. Christopher Zerby, 41, was killed on Route 130 in the township. Zerby was a passenger in a rented Dodge Viper sports car driven by a fellow officer, Lt. Keith Buckley. The vehicle veered off the highway just south of Route 1 and slammed into a guardrail and utility pole.
The 40-year-old Buckley, an 18-year veteran of the force, was charged Friday with vehicular homicide.
On Aug. 22, Perth Amboy police officer Thomas Raji, 31, was killed when a car broadsided his cruiser as he and another officer were transporting a prisoner to the Middlesex County jail. The other Perth Amboy officer, Matthew Mercurio, 42, was injured.
Sean McGuirk, 23, whose brother is a Woodbridge police officer, has been charged with vehicular homicide. Authorities say Raji and Mercurio were transporting the prisoner from Rahway when their patrol car, a 2005 Ford Crown Victoria traveling south on Route 1, was broadsided by McGuirk's Nissan Altima, which was crossing Route 1 at Green Street in Woodbridge.
Jim Ryan, spokesman for the New Jersey State Policeman's Benevolent Association, said he cannot recall a time when three officers have died in the line of duty in such a short period of time.
"Our 33,000 members are devastated at the loss of another of our members," he said. "It's numbing to get another phone call that's been repeated over the last thre weeks. It doesn't seem possible that this can keep happening."
Belleville police officer killed, another injured in car crash
by Kasi Addison and Nyier Abdou/The Star-Ledger
Saturday September 06, 2008, 10:09 AM
A Belleville police officer was killed this morning when he lost control of his cruiser after it was hit by another vehicle at the Belleville-Nutley border. A second officer in the cruiser was seriously injured, Mayor Raymond Kimble confirmed.
The two officers were at the intersection of Union Avenue and King Street at about 8 a.m. when another vehicle apparently ran a stop sign and collided with the cruiser, a second city official said. The male officer driving the cruiser lost control and crashed. He and the other officer were ejected, the official said.
Neither officer has been identified.
The male officer was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the official said. The other officer, a female, was taken to University Hospital in Newark where she was listed in serious condition.
No other details were imediately available and the condition of the driver of the other car was not immediately known.
"We hate to see any police officer lose their lives in the line of duty and our hearts and prayers go out to the family," Kimble said.
The Belleville officer is the third in New Jersey to die in a traffic accident in less than a month.
On Aug. 12, North Brunswick Lt. Christopher Zerby, 41, was killed on Route 130 in the township. Zerby was a passenger in a rented Dodge Viper sports car driven by a fellow officer, Lt. Keith Buckley. The vehicle veered off the highway just south of Route 1 and slammed into a guardrail and utility pole.
The 40-year-old Buckley, an 18-year veteran of the force, was charged Friday with vehicular homicide.
On Aug. 22, Perth Amboy police officer Thomas Raji, 31, was killed when a car broadsided his cruiser as he and another officer were transporting a prisoner to the Middlesex County jail. The other Perth Amboy officer, Matthew Mercurio, 42, was injured.
Sean McGuirk, 23, whose brother is a Woodbridge police officer, has been charged with vehicular homicide. Authorities say Raji and Mercurio were transporting the prisoner from Rahway when their patrol car, a 2005 Ford Crown Victoria traveling south on Route 1, was broadsided by McGuirk's Nissan Altima, which was crossing Route 1 at Green Street in Woodbridge.
Jim Ryan, spokesman for the New Jersey State Policeman's Benevolent Association, said he cannot recall a time when three officers have died in the line of duty in such a short period of time.
"Our 33,000 members are devastated at the loss of another of our members," he said. "It's numbing to get another phone call that's been repeated over the last thre weeks. It doesn't seem possible that this can keep happening."