PLUMSTED – Investigators are attempting to pin down the cause of a motor vehicle accident that claimed the life of an 18 year-old Millstone Township resident.
“Hearing this news is heart-wrenching,” Millstone Township K-8 School District Superintendent of Schools Scott Feder said. “To learn of the loss of a former student is something that rocks a community and it has in Millstone.”
Authorities said Alexander Pazzinno was the passenger in a 1995 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 that collided head-on with a tractor trailer at 10 a.m. Nov. 9 on Route 539 in Plumsted.
Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Al Della Fave said Pazzinno and the vehicle’s driver, Dylan Magee, 19, of Millstone Township, were traveling south on Route 539 when the accident occurred.
Authorities said the two young adults were on their way to Stockton University, Galloway. Pannizzo was a freshman at the university and was studying criminal justice.
Della Fave said the initial findings of the investigation show that Magee’s car veered into oncoming traffic. Investigators from the Plumsted Police Department, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department Crime Scene Investigation Unit and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office are still examining the accident.
Magee’s vehicle struck a tractor-trailer that was being driven by Norman Bird Jr., 73, of Allentown. Following the impact, the Camaro careened off the road and struck a tree. Della Fave said the tractor-trailer was transporting construction equipment.
Reports indicate the collision took place near 562 Pinehurst Road (Route 539), on a straight section of the county road.
Magee was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune. Bird was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Hamilton. Both suffered what authorities described as non-life-threatening injuries in the accident.
Pannizzo was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics just before 11 a.m.
Pannizzo and Magee went through the Millstone Township School District and both young men graduated from Allentown High School earlier this year.
“Our thoughts and support are with the (Pannizzo) family, as well as the family of those injured in this tragic accident,” Feder said.
No additional information was available as of Nov. 16.