Pickup flips, police car struck in icy Route 4 chain reaction crash in Fair Lawn

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A sequence of ice-caused crashes that began when a pickup truck overturned and continued with a Bergen County police cruiser sandwiched between two other vehicles on Route 4 in Fair Lawn led to quite a bit of vehicle damage but only a single minor injury, county police told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning.
The trouble began around 9 p.m., when the pickup skidded on black ice and flipped in the middle of the roadway while headed eastbound on Route 4, roughly 75 feet from the Route 208 flyover, BCPD Sgt. Chris Siracuse said.

Photo Credit: *Cliffview Pilot File Photo*

Jerry DeMarco

01/06/2014 3:23 a.m.

A friend who was following the pickup driver pulled his car to the side of the road, got out and ran toward the overturned vehicle, Siracuse said.

Moments later, a police cruiser driven by a BCPD officer who was among the emergency service responders who rushed to the scene skidded on the ice and smacked into the back of the parked vehicle — after which a civilian’s car behind plowed into him, the sergeant told CLIFFVIEW PILOT just moments after midnight.

The pickup truck driver was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center with a hand bruise — the only reported injury in the chain-reaction sequence, he said.

Route 4 was closed in both directions from 9:10 to 10:10 p.m., as emergency workers got everything quickly cleared despite slippery conditions that made walking treacherous.

Fair Lawn Fire Rescue 1 and 2, along with Fire Engine 3 and two rigs from the Fair Lawn Volunteer Ambulance Corps, joined Fair Lawn and count police at the scene.

Two state Department of Transportation trucks spread salt.

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