Crime & Safety

Car Swerves Into Water After Six-Car Accident on Parkway

Authorities say no one was seriously injured.

A six-car accident caused one woman's sedan to swerve off the road, down a brush path and land in a small section of the Rahway River off of the Garden State Parkway northbound, just before exit 136 (Linden).

Around 4:30 p.m. today, Clark Police received a phone call from a woman stating her vehicle was in the water, according to Clark Fire Official Frank Cerasa.

When officials arrived, they saw that the car had plunged all the way to the opposite bank of the creek. Units from the Union County and Linden police departments came to the woman's rescue from the other side of the river where Raritan Road meets Parkway Drive on the Winfield-Clark border. Steep banks made the vehicle difficult to access.

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"The vehicle wasn't really sinking quickly, but they tied a rope around the woman's waist just in case it started to," said Cerasa. "Sure enough, it started to sink more right after they did that. They put down a ladder and got her out from the driver's side window."

The woman was conscious and alert and was decontaminated at the scene by a hazmat crew because of the gasoline in the water. She was taken to Rahway Hospital for evaluation. Another passenger in a different vehicle was also taken for evaluation, but officials said no one appeared seriously injured.

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An NJ State Trooper on the scene explained that the accident was divided into two three-car incidents about 50 yards from one another, though the exact details are unclear. Traffic on the northbound side of the Parkway was backed up for several miles.

Jeff Heneks was driving one of the vehicles in the farther north accident; he was on his way from Maryland to Cape Cod with his family. "I saw a dark green car coming at us from the side," said Heneks, "and then it hit us."

Shaken up but okay, Heneks called 9-1-1, but the accident had already been called in by the woman whose vehicle swerved into the water. Atop Heneks's car was a kayak, and for a moment he contemplated taking to the water in it to help the woman, but before he could, officials were on the scene and responding to her.

Police and fire departments from Clark, Cranford, Linden, Winfield and Union County were at the scene. The county hazmat team and Clark Fire Special Operations unit stayed on to contain the gasoline in the water and remove the vehicle.


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