Posted on 12/04/2002 7:42:39 AM PST by Incorrigible
Wednesday, December 04, 2002
BY JONATHAN SCHUPPE AND JOE TYRRELL
Star-Ledger Staff
[Carteret, NJ] -- A veteran State Police trooper was killed early yesterday when a slow-moving truck struck him during routine seat belt checks at a New Jersey Turnpike tollbooth in Carteret.
Trooper Christopher S. Scales was standing on a toll island at Interchange 12 when the back end of an 18-wheel rig hit him. The driver apparently did not realize he had struck Scales until troopers got his attention, State Police officials said. By then, the truck, a flatbed mounted with a chemical container, had dragged the trooper between its two rear wheels about 40 feet, officials said.
Scales was pronounced dead at the scene. He was the first trooper killed on duty since 1997, and the first to die in a Turnpike accident since 1995.
The accident caused massive backups on surrounding Middlesex County roads and forced the closure of the busy interchange for part of the day.
State Police investigators yesterday interviewed the truck's distraught driver, Owen Donahue, 66, of Carteret, and were checking the truck's inspection history. He was not charged or issued a ticket. The truck is owned by Dana Transport of the Avenel section of Woodbridge. Company executives did not return calls seeking comment.
Law enforcement authorities said Scales' death appeared to be an accident. The trooper apparently slipped into the truck's path or misjudged the truck's length, they said.
"Looks like it was just a tragedy," said State Police Sgt. Kevin Rehmann, a spokesman.
"Preliminary indications are that criminal liability is not involved," added Assistant Middlesex County Prosecutor Nicholas Sewitch.
The 40-year-old Scales spent most of his 15-year career patrolling the highways of Central Jersey. He lived in Hamilton, Mercer County, with his wife, Lisa, and three young children.
A stream of colleagues and friends flowed into the two-story house yesterday, including State Police Superintendent Frederick Madden. Scales' children were brought home at 3:25 p.m. and were told about their father's death.
"Throughout his assignment with the New Jersey State Police, trooper Scales displayed courtesy, professionalism and offered aid and assistance to the citizens of this state," Madden said in a statement later in the day. "Trooper Scales upheld the finest traditions of the New Jersey State Police. He will be missed."
Gov. James E. McGreevey flew via helicopter to the accident scene and later phoned Scales' family.
Scales "was an exemplary young man filled with great promise," McGreevey said. "Our prayers and thoughts are with him, his wife and his family."
The Governor ordered flags at the Statehouse to be flown at half-staff today.
Tall, fit, polite and always sharply dressed, Scales was regarded by colleagues as a prototypical member of the State Police.
"He went out of his way to help anybody out," said a longtime friend on the force who spoke on the condition he would not be named. "The guy personified what a trooper is."
Scales was a member of the force's Turnpike Tactical Patrol Unit. Yesterday, he was among a four-trooper crew assigned to the Interchange 12 toll plaza to ticket drivers for not wearing seat belts. The shift was to run from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The State Police commonly stations troopers at toll plazas to check drivers for seat belts, inspection stickers, signs of drunkenness or other potential violations. But Scales' detail was also marking All American Buckle Up Week.
At 11:15 a.m., Scales was standing on a tollbooth island among vehicles entering the Turnpike when he ended up in the path of the Dana Transport truck, which had begun accelerating after passing through the E-ZPass lane, authorities said. Speed was not an factor in the accident, they said.
Toll workers and fellow troopers watched aghast as Scales was hit by the rear of the truck and crushed by the back tires. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority was providing counseling for toll workers who witnessed the accident, spokesman Joe Orlando said. The other troopers working the seat-belt detail were so upset, they were driven home by colleagues.
The authority closed Interchange 12 for more than three hours as authorities tried first to rescue Scales and then cleaned up the accident. Heavy duty tow trucks from B&L Towing of Carteret were used to lift the truck's rear wheels from the pavement while investigators studied them.
At 3:45 p.m., traffic was allowed to enter the Turnpike, and by 4:30, the exit lanes reopened.
Local roads, including Routes 1&9 and Roosevelt Avenue, were snarled by diverted traffic for much of the afternoon. Local businesses, as well as drivers, sat idle.
Scales' colleagues, meanwhile, struggled with the second death of an active trooper this year. Trooper John Oliva, 36, committed suicide while off duty in October.
Scales was the first trooper to die on duty since 1997, when trooper Scott M. Gonzalez was gunned down in his police cruiser in Warren County. The last trooper to die on duty on the Turnpike was trooper Marvin R. McCloud, whose patrol car was struck by another vehicle in Salem County in 1995.
Traffic accidents are a constant hazard for police officers. While shootings and other violent incidents draw more attention, tragedies on the road take nearly as many lives.
Of the 1,970 police fatalities nationwide since 1990, 809 have been from shootings and 747 have been from traffic accidents, according to the National Association of Chiefs of Police. Nearly a quarter of the accidents involved police officers struck by other cars while outside their cruisers.
The president of Scales' union, the State Troopers Fraternal Association, said he didn't believe Scales' death was the result of any violations of safety procedures. He said troopers have been stationed at tollbooths for decades.
"It's a tragic day for us," said STFA President Kenneth McClelland. "He was a trooper -- and person -- of the highest quality, intensity and dedication. This is devastating to all of us who knew him."
Staff writers Alexander Lane and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
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Now, due to a stupid law, a trooper, who should have been looking for swarthy guys driving rental trucks, dies in a tragic accident.
The article does state that road side accidents are a real danger for roadway workers but if it wasn't for the constant caution of those who work on the road, there would be many more deaths and maiming!
I was an engineer on the NJ Turnpike for 2 years in the 80's and spent time on 30 foot scaffolds right next to the fast lane of traffic with trucks whizzing by at 70+ mph. One time a van had a tire blow out right before the underpass we were working on. Fortunately for us he was able to control the vehicle and pull over to the shoulder beyond the scaffolds that had 4 people working on it. We helped him change the tire but damn it, all the tires on that van were bald!
It was scary out there! There's a wall in the Turnpike engineering office in New Brunswick that has pictures of all the white Turnpike Authority cars with bashed in trunks that were hit while on the side of the road. It was a constant reminder to us.
I've been stopped by NJ State Troopers on many occasions. While it wasn't pleasant getting a speeding ticket, they were always professional and even when I took them to court, did not appear to hold it against me.
NJ Troopers have been given a bum rap, and not just by the race baiters, but by those in the highest offices of NJ, especially Whitman!
Don't be inane. If he was checking for a driver license, we wouldn't blame laws demanding licenses.
Careful now. Checking for drivers licenses is a capital offense in some quarters.
Let the Insurance Lobby donate money to his surviving family members.
SEAT BELT LAWS are a form of taxation and government intrusion. Period.
They pulled the same nanny clap-trap lies in Kentucky. Now they have checkpoints out, for the chillrun of course.
Get off your task chairs and do something, whiners.
A stupid way to die, as a servant of the almighty nanny-state.
On a lark, I once phoned a newspaper comment line and claimed to be a scofflaw who had a fake seatbelt that I merely tucked into the space between the seat and backrest.
I boasted that it had even fooled troopers at checkpoints into believing that I was properly buckled up.
The level of outrage in our local liberal control-freaks my silly call generated was sickening.
Thomas Jefferson knew what to do about these sons of bitches... But to speak of it is verboten!
If there was a law which called for random road blocks to check for drivers licences, any thinking person would blame this accident on the needless intrusion.
Don't be inane.
There is a world of difference between "checking" and "checkpoints". Taking the use seat belts (or even the possession of a drivers license) from a secondary violation to a primary cause of arrest is enforcement abuse well beyond the legislatorial intent. This was indeed a senseless death for a senseless law.
Why pay for a speeding ticket in NJ? They don't obey their own election laws. Why should we obey their traffic laws?
Prayers for the troopers family!
Ever terrified that someone might criticize their precious control over every minute detail of citizens lives.
That post is the textbook definition of inane.
When people die in accidents, it is a tragedy . When they die doing idiotic tasks when they should be tending to legitimate functions, it is even more tragic.
A good man is dead, the fact that he was killed in an accident while doing something illegitimate is sadder than sad.
Agreed. It's just the government trying to run our lives....
So if checking drivers licenses was "illegitimate", where would he be? Face it, you are using a tragic death to push an agenda and blaming me.
The trucker did nothing wrong here!
And your trying to interject some of your preconcived notions here is worthless!
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