OLD BRIDGE — Police, fire and rescue squads shut down Route 18 for more than an hour after a two-vehicle collision fatally injured a Bergen County woman on Aug. 16.
Ashley Chieco, 26, of Wood-Ridge, was driving a black 2011 Hyundai Tucson in the wrong direction in the southbound fast lane of Route 18 near Route 516 when she collided head-on with a 2000 BMW 323 driven by Dana Corrar, 55, of Old Bridge, at approximately 6:54 p.m., police said. Both drivers were trapped in their vehicles following the collision, but were extracted by medical personnel.
Chieco was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where she was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
Corrar was also taken to Robert Wood and suffered multiple fractures in both legs, among other injuries. She is in serious condition, but is expected to survive, according to Old Bridge police Capt. Art Carullo.
Police subsequently determined that the Hyundai being driven by Chieco had been stolen in Point Pleasant Beach earlier that day.
Detective Rich Tulko of the Old Bridge Police Department said that Chieco had been at a bar in Point Pleasant Beach some time prior to the collision.
“We don’t know that she was drinking, but we believe she was,” Tulko said.
The Hyundai Tucson she operated was a model similar to the small SUV-style vehicle registered in Chieco’s name, he said, but was a different color.
Police are still trying to determine where and how Chieco came to drive on the wrong side of the highway.
“Coming from East Brunswick, there is a concrete barrier. Then there is a steel guardrail and a grass median with a chainlink fence, and all of it’s intact,” Tulko said, adding that the nearest points of entry to the southbound roadway were unlikely to be used by anyone who was not already familiar with their locations.
An autopsy is being done on Chieco’s body, but the toxicology report will not be completed for at least a week.