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Three people were hospitalized, none with serious injuries, in the five-vehicle pileup on the highway's southbound side near the exit for Route 4 around 3:45 p.m. Friday, March 25, Paramus Police Kenneth Ehrenberg said from the scene.
The body was on a stretcher wrapped in a sheet when it popped out of a Honda Odyssey, the chief said. The corpse wasn't damaged, he said.
The same couldn't be said for some of the other occupants.
The pickup truck pulling the trailer rear-ended a Jeep Wrangler, igniting a chain reaction that also involved a sedan and one other vehicle.
"It always comes to a dead stop by the Garden State Plaza," said Brittany Garabedian of Cliffside Park, who was driving the Jeep. "I have a habit of looking in my rearview after I brake, and I saw a trailer flying and not slowing down.
"At that second everything happened -- loud tires screeching with BOOM BOOM BOOM AND BOOM.
"I was hit so hard my rear glass ended up on the hood of the Jeep," said Garabedian, who was hospitalized with a concussion, among other injuries." I hit my head and nose so hard on the steering wheel I couldn't move or get out to help anyone else.
"It felt like a dream," she said. "Very scary. The EMTs and paramedics were so helpful."
Needless to say, both highways were jammed with early rush hour traffic that was exacerbated (understandably) by rubberneckers.
The handler led the horse to the side of the road to eat some grass before another trailer was summoned, witnesses said. Another transport vehicle collected the corpse.
Several drivers and passengers refused medical attention, Ehrenberg said.
ANYONE with photos, please text: (201) 943-2794 / Or email: jdemarco@gmail.com / Or PM on Facebook: Jerry DeMarco (DAILY VOICE)
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