Chief Warrant Officer Christine Czaja, 48, of Ocean View, had recently returned to Texas from serving overseas in Iraq since June 2020 with the New Jersey Army National Guard and devised a plan to surprise her daughters, Skylar and Riley.
NEWARK — A passenger inside a disabled car on the New Jersey Turnpike was killed early Monday when it was rear-ended by a pickup truck, State Police said.
The car became disabled in the right lane on the highway’s southbound side near milepost 105.7 in Newark, but it wasn't immediately clear why that happened or how long the car was there before the accident occurred about 4:10 a.m.
The impact sent the car into a concrete barrier and the pickup truck overturned, State Police said. The driver of the disabled car was hospitalized with serious injuries, while the pickup truck driver suffered moderate injuries. Their names and further details on their conditions were not disclosed.
The southbound inner lanes were closed for about five hours after the crash, resulting in major traffic delays in the area, authorities said.
The cause of the accident remains under investigation.
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