Update: Upper Saddle River Woman, 96, Driver, 77, Killed In Route 17 Crash

UPDATE: A 96-year-old Upper Saddle River woman and the 77-year-old driver were killed in a single-vehicle crash on Route 17 in Ramsey on Tuesday, authorities said.

The Jeep came to rest at the Exxon service station entrance after hitting the tree on the northbound Route 17 shoulder in Ramsey.
Photo Credit: *Jerry DeMarco*

Northbound Route 17, Ramsey
Photo Credit: *ROCKLAND BUFF*

At the scene of the double fatal on northbound Route 17 in Ramsey on Tuesday, Nov. 29.
Photo Credit: *Jerry DeMarco*

"Both adult occupants of the vehicle were pronounced at the scene," Ramsey Police Chief Brian Lyman told Daily Voice.
Photo Credit: *Allison Knol via Northern New Jersey All Incidents (Facebook)*

The Jeep Cherokee slammed into this tree on the side of northbound Route 17 in Ramsey, responders said.
Photo Credit: *Jerry DeMarco*

Jerry DeMarco

11/29/2022 3:40 p.m.

Ethel Toth was a passenger in a 2009 Jeep Cherokee driven by George Sadue, 77, of Coventry, Rhode Island, that left the northbound highway and hit a tree on the property of an Exxon station around 2:30 p.m. Nov. 29, Ramsey Police Chief Brian Lyman said.

Toth was killed on impact, Lyman said.

Sadue was extricated by firefighters but succumbed to his injuries a short time later, the chief said, adding that no other occupants were in the vehicle.

Northbound Route 17 remained closed at Lake Street for several hours to remove the bodies, clear the wreckage and allow investigators to do their jobs.

“At this time the cause of the accident is still undetermined,” Lyman said Wednesday. “No other vehicles appear to have been involved.”

Ramsey police were assisted by members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Fatal Accident Investigations Unit and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification, who collected evidence, the chief noted. A medical chopper was initially placed on standby and then canceled.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation assisted with re-routing traffic, he added.

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