Accidents closed roads for hours
By Charles W. Kim, Managing Editor
SOUTH BRUNSWICK — Two separate crashes with trucks this weekend left a Jamesburg man fighting for his life and a car destroyed by fire, according to police.
In the first crash, Rosbuth Mathis, 50, of Jamesburg, was driving a 1996 Mercury west on Deans Rhode Hall Road around 12:45 p.m.Friday when he crossed into the eastbound lane and hit a tractor-trailer head on, police said.
Mr. Mathis was trapped in his car and had to be removed from the wreck by the Monmouth Junction and Brookdale fire companies.
He was flown by State Police medivac helicopter to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick with life threatening injuries and was listed in critical condition, police said.
The driver of the truck was not injured, police said.
The South Brunswick Police Traffic Safety Bureau is investigating the crash.
According to police, the two-lane county road was closed for more than four hours as investigators pieced the events together and removed the vehicles.
The second crash took place Saturday morning around 5:30 a.m. when a 2009 Nissan Rogue, operated by Nicole Sentenat, 26, of New Brunswick ran into the rear of a 2007 International tractor-trailer that was stopped for a traffic light at the intersection of Route 1 north and New Road.
The Rogue caught fire as a result of the crash and was destroyed, police said.
Ms. Sentenat was able to escape the vehicle and was taken to the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro where she was treated for minor injuries.
The Monmouth Junction Fire Department responded to the scene and put the fire out, police said.
The driver of the truck was not injured.
Route 1 north was closed for about an hour, according to police.
An investigation is ongoing to determine if alcohol played a part in that crash, according to police.
Anyone with information about either crash is asked to call police at (732) 329-4646.