At least three people, including an infant, were injured Monday when a dark-colored Jeep SUV collided with a sedan at the intersection of Clinton Street and East Linden Avenue in Linden, New Jersey, sending the sedan spinning into a parked car and damaging four vehicles in all. Police arrested the SUV driver following the crash, though what led up to the wreck remained unclear.
Witness Describes Jeep Veering Into Oncoming Traffic
According to CBS News, witnesses said the Jeep went around a red pickup truck and into oncoming traffic before striking the sedan. Sedan occupants were rushed to the hospital, per witnesses cited in the same report. John Cieri, who said he was a passenger in the red truck, told the outlet that the black Jeep hit the truck on the driver's side before continuing on to strike the Honda head-on, with a mother, father, and baby inside.
Cieri's account, relayed to the station, offers the most detailed witness description of the sequence so far, though the crash's official cause had not been established as of the report. Sedan occupants reportedly included a man, a woman, and a very young child in a car seat. A baby's car seat was spotted on the ground at the scene, and first responders later removed it.
Police Took Jeep Driver Into Custody
Neighbor video reviewed by the station showed police approaching the Jeep driver with guns apparently drawn before taking the driver into custody. Police said the SUV driver was arrested following the crash, though the station's report does not specify charges or the driver's identity. The story remains developing, and additional details may emerge as the investigation continues.
Pattern of Serious Crashes in Linden
The crash adds to a string of serious wrecks in Linden in recent months. Just last week, a 2007 Ford SUV traveling west on East Linden Avenue crashed with a 2009 sedan traveling south on Carteret Street, sending the SUV through a fence and into a home that was later declared uninhabitable, according to Patch. The Ford's driver suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to Trinitas Regional Medical Center for evaluation, Patch reported.
In a separate incident, a mother and her three children, including an infant, were struck by a car while crossing the street in Linden, CBS News reported in another report. Police said a silver 2011 Honda Civic went around a stopped vehicle and struck the group near Dewitt Terrace and Academy Terrace around 8:30 a.m. The mother and her infant son suffered the most serious injuries, to the head and neck, while two other children, ages 2 and 4, were treated for minor injuries; everyone involved was taken to University Hospital in Newark. The Civic's driver, a 54-year-old Linden man, was brought to Linden police headquarters and was cooperating with investigators, with no charges filed as of that Friday night.
A July crash near the I-278 interchange in Linden reportedly left seven people with serious injuries, according to a low-confidence account from mycentraljersey.com.
What New Jersey Policy Says About Police Pursuits
It has not been established whether Monday's crash involved a police pursuit. But under New Jersey's statewide policy, officers do not have blanket authority to chase a fleeing vehicle simply because evading police can itself support an eluding charge. The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General's policy states there is a strong presumption against initiating a vehicular pursuit based solely on that consideration.
The question of accountability in pursuit-related crashes has drawn scrutiny statewide. The attorney general's office announced that a state grand jury declined to file criminal charges against a New Jersey State Police trooper in connection with a fatal crash during a vehicle pursuit in Hope Township, Warren County, in August 2024.
