Route 33 crash leaves one dead, one seriously injured

Route 33 crash leaves one dead,
one seriously injured

PHOTOSBY JEFF GRANIT staff MON-OC paramedics and Millstone Township First Aid Squad members prepare an accident victim to be airlifted to Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune Township, following a fatal accident on Route 33 in Millstone Tuesday afternoon.

MILLSTONE — A 42-year-old Manalapan Township man was killed Tuesday afternoon in a head-on collision on Route 33 east, near the intersection of Perrineville Road.

Wayne O. Gordon was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Trooper Christopher Wright of the state police barracks in Hamilton Township.

The driver of the other vehicle, Laurie A. Hochberg, 48, of Princeton Junction, was seriously injured and airlifted to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, in a state police helicopter, police said.

Gordon was traveling eastbound in the left-hand lane of Route 33 in a 2000 Honda CRV when the accident occurred at 3:22 p.m. near the border of Millstone and Monroe townships, according to state police.

Hochberg was traveling westbound on Route 33 in a 1994 Toyota Camry. Her vehicle entered the grass median separating the eastbound and westbound lanes, then continued across the median through a hedgerow, striking Gordon’s vehicle head-on, police said.

The Honda then rolled over onto the driver’s side of the vehicle, said Wright.

The Millstone Township First Aid Squad, along with the Millstone Township Fire Company and the Applegarth Fire Company in Monroe, responded, said Robert Trifiro, president of the Millstone Township First Aid Squad.

Gordon died of head and neck injuries, according to the Monmouth County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy was performed Wednesday morning.

Hochberg had compound fractures of both legs, a broken left arm and a possible broken sternum, according to Trifiro.

"When we got there, the fire departments were already there," he said. "An off-duty paramedic was already on the scene — she was on her way home."

Millstone Township First Aid Squad member Dan Murphy was also one of the first on the scene, Trifiro said.

The fire departments extricated Hochberg from her car, and the squad got her into the helicopter, he added.

There was nothing they could do for Gordon, said Trifiro.

"He was already gone when we got there," he stated.

The accident is under investigation by both the state police and the Monmouth County prosecutor’s office.

— Patricia A. Miller