a7e54b72f63ab3bd379c62152f606398.jpg

LAWRENCE: Colonial Lake crash kills one

Dump truck lands on car

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
LAWRENCE — The driver of a Nissan Altima was killed when his car was struck by a dump truck and both vehicles landed in Colonial Lake Thursday afternoon.
The accident occurred at 3:08 p.m. in the northbound lanes of Brunswick Pike at the intersection of Lake Drive, according to police Lt. Joseph Amodio. The names of the drivers are being withheld, pending notification of family members.
"We are not sure of the circumstances," Lt. Amodio said, but it appears that the dump truck "rammed" the car and pushed it into Colonial Lake. The dump truck landed on top of the car, near the bridge. The car was completely submerged in four- to five-foot deep water.
The driver of the dump truck, which is owned by the Pemberton-based Scorer Trucking Co., was taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center by a Trenton EMS ambulance around 3:50 p.m. The dump truck was pulled out of the lake by a heavy-duty tow truck about an hour later.
Several divers from the Trenton Fire Department’s Rescue 1 unit waded into the murky water to help find the car so that it could be towed out of the lake. The mangled wreckage was pulled out of the water by a tow truck around 5:10 p.m.
Once the car was on land, first responders used cutting tools to extricate the body of the driver. It took several hours to free the body from the car.
All three Lawrence Township volunteer fire companies responded, as well as the Trenton Fire Department’s Rescue 1 and hazardous materials units. Trenton firefighters placed a blue barrier near the wreckage to prevent fuel from entering the lake.
The accident is still under investigation by the Lawrence Township Police Department, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office’s fatal accident reconstruction team.