Early morning accident claims life

MONROE — A 76-year-old township resident was killed Saturday morning when the vehicle he was driving collided with a truck on Applegarth Road, according to township police Sgt. Kenneth Gross.

The accident occurred at approximately 6:45 a.m. when Theodore Gutkowski Jr., driving a 2001 Mercury Marquis eastbound on Prospect Plains Road at the intersection with Applegarth Road, reportedly crossed in front of a 1994 Ford driven by Lawrence Smith, 53, of Bayville, who was traveling south on Applegarth Road.

Gutkowski was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, where he was pronounced dead at about 8 a.m. Smith was not injured, according to police.

Gutkowski, who police said was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, was a resident of the township’s Rossmoor retirement community.

According to Gross, there have been several accidents at the location, which has a traffic signal, and which is among the township’s busier intersections.

Police have not filed any charges against Smith.

The police department’s Traffic Safety Unit and the Middlesex County fatal accidents investigative unit are currently conducting an investigation, he said.

The accident follows several fatal car accidents reported at other points in the township since March. Two of those accidents claimed the lives of three senior citizens who lived in the township. An 80-year-old woman was killed at Applegarth Road and Centre Drive March 1, and a husband and wife, ages 74 and 73, were killed in an accident at Union Valley and Perrineville roads March 11.

— Sandi Carpello