EWING — An open container of alcohol was found in the vehicle of the man who ended the life of a Plainsboro woman and two others when he crashed his pickup truck into oncoming traffic Friday while traveling the wrong way on northbound I-95.
Robert William Clarke, 76, of Gaston, N.C., was also killed after he drove his 2001 Ford F-150 pickup truck southbound in the northbound lanes of I-95, as was Rebecca Hernandez, 28, of Sayre Drive in Plainsboro, and Isabelle Rodriguez, 57, and Roberto Cancel, 28, both of Puerto Rico.
The accident happened about 7:55 p.m. Friday near milepost .25 just over the Scudders Falls Bridge over the Delaware River, where Mr. Clarke’s pickup truck crashed nearly head-on into a minivan driven by Ms. Hernandez, which was carrying seven people.
Two of the passengers were instantly killed, with a third dying later after being ejected from the van, according to police.
The other four passengers in the minivan were taken to area hospitals, with Alby Vargas of Puerto Rico being taken to Saint Mary Medical Center in Middletown, Pa., for treatment of serious injuries.
Ricardo Sanabria, 29, of Sayre Drive in Plainsboro, Elba Vargas, 55, and Victor Vargas, 21, both of Puerto Rico, were taken to Capital Health System’s Fuld Campus in Trenton for minor injuries.
Ms. Hernandez and Mr. Sanabria had picked up the other passengers for a holiday weekend get-together, traveling from a skiing trip in the Poconos to pick up their friends at Philadelphia International Airport and take them back to Plainsboro, according to police.
State investigators are still waiting for toxicology reports on Mr. Clarke to be completed, according to State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones, who said the tests take four to six weeks to be completed.
Autopsy reports are also pending, Mr. Jones said.
Following the accident, emergency personnel at the scene were able to pull Mr. Clarke from the wreckage which allowed him to be transported to the Fuld hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 10:15 p.m. Friday.
Of those killed in the minivan driven by Ms. Hernandez, emergency personnel pronounced all three dead at the scene of the accident.
Mr. Clarke’s truck was involved in numerous other car accidents prior to the fatal crash, according to Sgt. Jones, who said police had reports of several sideswipe accidents in the area, and another accident in Lower Makefield Township, Pa., that officials believed involved Mr. Clarke’s vehicle.
It is not known how Mr. Clarke’s truck ended up traveling the wrong way down I-95, but Sgt. Jones speculated that he probably traveled over the center median and began going the wrong way immediately prior to the accident.
Also, a state trooper who was responding to reports of Mr. Clarke’s erratic driving was nearly struck by Mr. Clarke’s vehicle, but failed to stop the pickup truck before the fatal accident.
Debris from the crash caused an additional accident involving a car driven by Beth Toland, 28, of Ewing. Emergency personnel transferred Ms. Toland to Capital Health System’s Mercer Campus in Trenton for treatment of minor injuries, according to Sgt. Jones.
The accident forced authorities to completely shut northbound side of I-95 from the Delaware River bridge to Exit 2 for a few hours on Friday night.

