Second believed dead, police official says
The Associated Press
JERSEY CITY, N.J. - An emergency vehicle carrying two police officers drove off a drawbridge and plunged into the Hackensack River, apparently killing both men, Jersey City Police Chief Robert Troy said Monday.
The crash occurred some time after 8:20 p.m. Sunday outside Jersey City, and the officers likely died upon impact with the water, the chief said.
The body of Sean Carson, 40, was recovered less than two hours later; the second officer is still missing and believed dead, Troy said. He’s been identified as Robert Nguyen, 30.
Troy said authorities are still searching for Nguyen’s body. The officers’ vehicle was recovered early Monday.
Carson and Nguyen had delivered flares to the bridge operator because the safety gate wasn’t functional, Troy said. Meanwhile, before the officers made their return trip, the Route 1 and 9 Bridge -- also known as the Lincoln Highway Bridge -- had gone up to allow a tugboat to pass. (Watch report on how bridge was open for a tugboat -- 2:19)
“Unknown to them and because of the hour, the darkness, the rain, the fog, I’m sure it was impossible for those two to know what they were driving into, their own demise,” said Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy.
The 300-foot-long vertical-lift bridge was built shortly after World War II and works like an elevator suspended between two columns, said Mitchel Dakelman, director of the New Jersey chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association.
“There’s a structure that goes up and down,” Dakelman said. “The lift span is mounted between two towers.”
Because the bridge sits relatively high above the water, it is moved into the open position only when tall vessels seek passage -- a rare occurrence through the approximately 40-feet-deep channel, he said. When the bridge is in the open position, drivers are warned that the pavement is ending by flashing lights and barricades, he said.
Last week, the crash gate on the bridge was removed after the warning lights and bells were damaged in an accident, police said. The New Jersey Department of Transportation said it was in the process of installing a new gate.
The bridge is about five miles from New York City, and truckers use it en route to the Holland Tunnel, Dakelman said.
The channel is used by commercial boat traffic, generally petroleum barges going to and from nearby refineries, he added.