Single-car crash on River Street in Hackensack

tONLY ON CLIFFVIEW PILOT: The condition of a 17-year-old boy from Little Ferry who was behind the wheel of a car that smashed into a tree on River Street in Hackensack during the evening rush hour has improved somewhat, despite severe injuries that include a collapsed lung, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told CLIFFVIEW PILOT Wednesday.

Jerry DeMarco

01/18/2012 10:00 p.m.

The investigation by Traffic Unit detectives with the Hackensack Police Department is still in its preliminary stages.

But early indications are that the teen’s Toyota Corolla apparently was cut off, on a stretch of road with a 40 mph limit.

“As he swerved, he lost control and hit a tree,” a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the crash told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

“It took about 15 minutes to get him out of the car. They had to cut off the roof.”

Doctors at nearby Hackensack University Medical Center operated on the teen.

The car was headed south on River Street around 4:50 this afternoon when it careened into the tree, in the area of the former Bergen County homeless shelter trailer, witnesses told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

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