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UPDATE: Manuel A. Bandeira-Dias, 56, of Carlstadt, was just beginning his route this morning when his 1999 Rodas Mobile Catering truck rammed into the back of a tractor-trailer that then dragged it nearly a quarter-mile north on Route 17, Wood-Ridge Police Chief Joseph T. Rutigliano told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
The driver of the rig immediately made his way to the shoulder of northbound Route 17, just past the light at the Exxon/White Castle jughandle, the chief said.
What he didn’t know, Rutigliano said, was that “the catering truck hit with such force that it was under the 18-wheeler.”
The smaller truck was dragged about 450 yards, he said.
Wood-Ridge and Hasbrouck Heights firefighters needed to cut the driver from under the trailer to get him out. He was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center in “very serious condition,” the chief said.
Part of the highway was closed as a result.
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