LINDEN, N.J. (AP) – A car carrying three off-duty New Jersey police officers crashed into a truck early Friday while driving the wrong way on a New York City highway, killing one officer and a civilian and leaving two other officers critically injured, officials said.
The three officers worked in the Linden Police Department, Linden Mayor Derek Armstead told local media outlets. The identity of the fourth person in the car wasn’t clear.
The truck was driving southbound on the West Shore Expressway on Staten Island when the vehicles crashed head-on just before 5 a.m., the New York Police Department said. The truck driver was treated at a hospital for injuries that weren’t considered to be life-threatening.
Images showed both the truck and car smashed against the center guardrail and the car ravaged.
“Linden is a very small town. Everybody knows everybody,” Armstead told WCBS radio. “The officers involved are very proactive in our community, and it is just a sad day in Linden, it really is.”