3 injured after being ejected from stolen car following crash in New Jersey, state police say
Three people were seriously injured after being ejected from a stolen car in rural Hopewell Township, Cumberland County early Tuesday morning, according to New Jersey State Police.
State police said a teen driving a stolen Kia lost control on Sewall Road, went off the road, and crashed into multiple trees.
Investigators said the teen driver and two juvenile passengers were ejected and suffered serious injuries.
Chopper 3 was over the crash scene, showing split trees across the road along with scattered debris. The black car was severely damaged, and its airbags had deployed.
"I heard the skid, I heard the bang," neighbor Joe Peterson said. "It was a bad scene. A very bad scene."
Peterson said he got up in the morning to feed his animals outside and saw a car going back and forth past his house until it eventually crashed. He rushed over to help the people in the car and was the second person on the scene. He says the car crashed right at the curve of Sewall Road.
"One was lying on the ground next to the car. One was 10 feet inside the hedgerow from the car," Peterson said. "And the other was on the side of the road down towards the field."
Peterson said he did his best to keep everyone calm before emergency responders arrived on the scene.
Neighbors have reported problems on this road in the past, particularly with cars speeding and even racing in the middle of the night.
"They run up and down this road like crazy all the time," Peterson said. "And the school is over here."
Hours after the crash, New Jersey State Police cleared the scene, but parts of the split tree were still visible.
Investigators have not released any of the victims' names, and their conditions are unknown at the time.
