Lodi Bus Rider, 69, Injured By Chemical, Authorities Say

A bus passenger in Lodi had to hospitalized after she sat on what responders said was drain cleaner.

NJ Transit bus.
Photo Credit: *COURTESY: NJ Transit*

10/15/2019 3:46 p.m.

The 69-year-old New York woman boarded the 164 bus near the corner of Essex Street and Maywood Avenue around 2:20 p.m. Sunday, sat down and immediately notified the driver of an injury, authorities said.

Apparently “some type of liquid” on the seat “was causing a reaction on her leg,” NJ Transit’s Jim Smith said.

A Bergen County Hazardous Materials unit determined that the substance was drain cleaner, responders said.

The woman “immediately got up screaming in pain” after the chemical “burned through her clothes and onto her skin,” one noted.

Lodi police were working with county hazmat and transit police to determine the cause, Lt. Robert Salerno said.

The Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification collected evidence.

A following bus collected the other riders, none of whom were injured, Smith said.

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