Five-car crash sends nine to area hospitals
From the Atlantic City Press Published: Sunday, July 20, 2008
From Press staff reports
ABSECON - At least 10 people were hospitalized after a five-vehicle crash that disrupted traffic on the eastbound side of Route 30 for more than two hours Saturday afternoon.
A female passenger and 7-month-old baby were flown to Cooper University Hospital in Camden after the black Toyota they were traveling in was struck by a red pickup truck at about 2:08 p.m. just west of Mill Road and the White Horse Pike, according to police and another driver, Christina Hamilton.
Click "read more" for full article w/updates
(Continued from Page 1)
One of the other passengers - a married couple and two other young children - had to be extricated from the car, according to police and Tameesha Lewis, who was driving ahead of the cars when they collided.
After a truck driven by Brendan Rivera, 23, of Galloway Township, hit the Toyota, other cars hit vehicles driven by Lewis, 21, of Camden, and Tameaka Conley, 30, of Clementon, police said.
Lewis, Conley and the Toyota were part of a caravan of 25 friends and relatives headed to the beach in Atlantic City, Lewis said. Rivera was hospitalized along with an unidentified relative who responded to the scene and then experienced chest pains, police said.
The other passengers were taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center's City and Mainland campuses, according to a statement released late Saturday by Absecon police.
Police did not release names of the hospitalized passengers. Hamilton did not immediately return a call to her cell phone late Saturday.
Ambulances from Absecon EMS, Egg Harbor Township, Pleasantville, AtlantiCare and Senior Transportation Atlantic City responded to the scene.
The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office and Absecon police Sgt. Christopher Weaver and Officers Matthew Ward and Thomas Gorham are investigating the crash. Police ask that witnesses or anyone with more information call the Absecon Police Department at 609-641-0667.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
From the Atlantic City Press Published: Friday, July 25, 2008
Baby dies of injuries from Absecon five-car crash
By LYNDA COHEN Staff Writer, 609-272-7257
A baby boy injured in a five-car crash in Absecon on Saturday has died. Anthony Dre Ross Jr., 10 months, was removed from life support Thursday, according to his aunt, Malvia Stewart.
The boy, whom family called D.J., was in a black Toyota driven by his father, Andre Ross, as part of a five-car caravan of family and friends headed from Camden County to the beach in Atlantic City. As the car headed east on the White Horse Pike at about 2 p.m., it was struck near Calderon Avenue by a red pickup truck also headed east.
Brendan Rivera, 23, of Galloway Township, was driving the truck, police said. Three other cars were struck after the initial impact. Stewart - who was not at the accident scene - said that was because Rivera tried to flee. Police would not comment on details of the accident, which remains under investigation.
Stewart wasn't sure whether four or five people were in Ross' car. D.J.'s mother, Sherene Stewart, was a passenger, and fractured her ribs, Stewart said. She was taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus. D.J. was flown to Cooper University Hospital in Camden but never regained consciousness.
"They didn't even know the baby was in the car (at first)," Stewart said. Pictures of the scene show the back of the car crushed. D.J. was inside, in his carseat.
"(The doctors) said there's nothing they could have done for him," Stewart added. "They wanted to pull him off (the machines) a little bit earlier, but we were praying for a miracle."
Stewart said her sister - who is now recovering at Cooper - did not know as of Thursday evening that the baby had died.
"She's in and out (of consciousness)," Stewart said. "She keeps asking for the baby. We told her he's sleeping."
Stewart tearfully recalled her nephew, who had just started walking and was saying a few words.
"The last time I saw him, he was smiling," she said, her voice breaking. "He was so smart. And always smiling."
His older siblings - two brothers, ages 24 and 11, and a 17-year-old sister - have almost been living at the hospital, keeping vigil, Stewart said. The family lives in Clementon.
"He was close to his mother, and his sister, too," she said. "He was always clinging to his sister."
A release issued by the Absecon Police Department on Thursday evening said at least 10 people were hospitalized in the accident, but named only Sherene Stewart and her son.
The accident remains under investigation by Patrolman Matthew Ward and Sgt. Christopher Weaver of the Absecon Police Department, Sgt. Robert Clarke of the Atlantic City Police Department Accident Investigations Unit and Investigator Kevin Hincks and Sgt. Keith Fane of the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Fatal Investigation Unit.
Anyone who may have witnessed the accident is asked to call the Absecon Police Department at 609-641-0667. The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office and Absecon Sgt. Christopher Weaver and Officer Thomas Gorham are leading the investigation.
E-mail Lynda Cohen: LCohen@pressofac.com
