By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
A motorcyclist was killed and the driver of a car was injured Sunday afternoon on Quakerbridge Road when they were struck by a car driven by a man who was later found to be intoxicated, according to the West Windsor Township Police Department.
Motorcyclist John Pelc, 55, of Parlin, died at the scene after his 2003 Yamaha motorcycle was struck by a 2013 Mercedes Benz driven by 50-year-old West Windsor Township resident Ram R. Thatigutla in the accident, which occurred shortly after 1 p.m.
Pelc and the unnamed driver of a 2016 Hyundai Sonata were stopped in the southbound center lane on Quakerbridge Road for a traffic signal near the Quaker Bridge Mall when the Mercedes Benz, which was traveling in the left lane, struck the Hyundai and then struck the motorcycle, police said.
After the accident, Thatigutla got out of his car and started running southbound on Quakerbridge Road until he collapsed on the concrete center median, police said. Passers-by held him until police arrived.
Pelc was pronounced dead at the scene. The 48-year-old driver of the Hyundai, who lives in Lawrence Township, was taken to the trauma unit at Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton for a head injury.
Thatigutla also was taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton.
Thatigutla was charged with driving while intoxicated, death by auto, assault by auto, leaving the scene of a fatal collision and having an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle, police said.
Thatigutla is in police custody, pending a detention hearing at 9 a.m. Friday in Mercer County Superior Court.
