MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT

Route 1 and Whitehead Road, Lawrence Township

At 6:53 a.m. on Friday, May 17, 2002, Lawrence Control toned out the Slackwood and Lawrence Road fire companies for an overturned vehicle in the area of Route 1 and Whitehead Road. Assistant Chief Wayne Hannon signed on radio at 6:55 a.m. Slackwood Deputy Chief Robert Santello responded next at 6:56 a.m., followed by Rescue 22 at 6:57 a.m. and Engine 21-1 at 6:58 a.m. Rescue 22 was commanded by Lt. Chris Pangaldi, driven by Ff. Charlie Commini, and staffed by a crew of Ff. Ff. Larry Forker, Ff. Joseph Dlabik Jr., and Ff. Michael Ratcliffe.

Hannon reached the scene at 6:58 a.m., followed by Santello and Engine 21-1 at 7 a.m. and Rescue 22 at 7:01 a.m. Firefighters quickly discovered that an Acura traveling in the right southbound lane of Route 1 had been bumped into and then knocked off the road by a tractor-trailer traveling in the left southbound lane of Route 1. The Acura, driven by Darrell Price of New Brunswick, went off Route 1 near the Whitehead Road exit ramp, hit a light pole, and then flipped over on to its roof. The tractor-trailer fled the scene and was being sought by police.

Price was assisted from the flipped car by passersby who stopped to help before firefighters arrived. Price was placed on a backboard by the Lawrence First Aid Squad and then transported to Capital Health System at Fuld hospital in Trenton for treatment of minor head injuries. As there was no entrapment, Rescue 22 was recalled at 7:05 a.m. and back in quarters at Station 22 by 7:12 a.m. Engine 21-1, however, remained on the scene until 8:05 a.m. while the wrecked vehicle was removed.