Police Lights (Photo: Jason Rojas/Flickr)
An accident early Thursday morning claimed the life of a Toms River man and sent four others to the hospital, with one person listed in critical condition.
The accident occurred at about 7:15 Thursday morning in the area of Whitesville Road and Route 571, in Manchester Township, for a report of a motor vehicle crash with a fatality, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. Responding officers determined that four vehicles were involved in the crash.
Investigators who worked to piece together the events that led to the accident believe that a 2018 Honda Civic operated by Danielle Bowker, 30, of Toms River, was traveling westbound on Route 571 when she failed to maintain her lane of travel while negotiating a right-hand curve, the statement said.
The Civic ultimately struck a New Jersey Department of Transportation Ford F-550 pickup truck operated by Eduardo Rivera, 30, of Hamilton Township, which was traveling eastbound on Route 571. Daniel Septor, 26, of the Cream Ridge section of Upper Freehold Township, was his passenger. As a consequence, the large F-550 lost directional control and struck a 2012 Toyota Camry operated by Michael Sadis, 48, of Toms River, pushing the Camry off the roadway into an embankment.
The Ford F-550 continued in the same direction of travel, striking a second vehicle – a 2015 Toyota Corolla operated by Paul Lambert, 58, of Toms River.
As a result of the crash, Bowker, Rivera, and Septor were transported to Community Medical Center in Toms River for treatment of minor injuries. Lambert was airlifted to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, and is presently listed in critical condition. Sadis, the driver of the 2015 Toyota that was pushed off the roadway in the chain reaction, was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The motor vehicle crash “remains under investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Vehicular Homicide Unit, Manchester Township Police Department, and Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit,” the statement said.
