Construction platform fails, leaving worker dangling in air
ATLANTIC CITY >> Authorities say two workers on a construction platform in New Jersey were rescued after it failed and left one worker briefly dangling by his safety rope in midair.
No injuries were reported Monday morning in Atlantic City. The platform holding the workers was about six floors up when it let go on one side.
Authorities say that the two men had been doing masonry work and that the collapse occurred as they started to descend.
Witnesses say the dangling worker was on the side that dropped, while the other remained on the scaffold. Both were pulled to safety through windows.
The workers declined comment, and authorities have not released their names.
The cause is being investigated.
Porsche SUV plunges onto train tracks, burns; 2 teens die
PEARL RIVER, N.Y. >> A Porsche SUV plummeted off an overpass onto train tracks below, where it burst into flames, killing two teenagers and sending a third to a hospital with serious injuries.
The Porsche fell from Route 304 in Pearl River, New York, on Sunday afternoon after a crash involving an additional vehicle and burned on New Jersey Transit tracks below, authorities said.
Saniha Cekic, 15, of Brooklyn, and Altin Nezaj, 17, of Pearl River, were pronounced dead at hospitals, Orangeburg police said in a prepared statement. The driver, Aisha Radoncic, 17, of Orangeburg, was seriously injured.
“I was watching the car and all of a sudden I heard this big bang,” witness Joe Geppner told WCBS . “We started trying to put out the fire. All we heard was this poor girl screaming. And she was screaming terribly.”
“Thank God the fire department came,” Geppner said. “I kept seeing the flames no matter what they did, they just kept coming up.”
NJ Transit service was suspended in both directions along a section of the Pascack Valley line.
The driver of the other vehicle, Jason T. Castro, of Nanuet, wasn’t injured, police said. He was driving a Volkswagen Jetta.
Police didn’t provide details, including the mechanics of the initial crash and its cause.
Nezaj was a member of Pearl River High School’s football and wrestling teams; Radoncic also is a student there, according to the Journal News .
The school was closed for Columbus Day but was offering counselors Monday and throughout the week.
“When our school community experiences a tragedy, such as the loss of a young life, it impacts all of us,” Schools Superintendent Marco F. Pochintesta said on the district’s website . “Our thoughts and prayers are with the students and their families and friends at this incredibly difficult time.”
This story has been updated to correct that authorities have not yet referred to the precipitating crash as a collision involving two vehicles.
Authorities: Drunk driver rear-ends police car; officer hurt RINGWOOD, N.J. >> Authorities say a woman was driving drunk when she rearended a police cruiser, injuring an officer.
The crash in Ringwood occurred around 7:20 p.m. Sunday.
Authorities say a 55-year-old Oakland woman was driving at a high rate of speed when her vehicle struck the cruiser driven by a Ringwood officer. The cruiser was totaled.
The officer was treated at a hospital for neck and knee injuries, while the woman apparently was not injured. Their names have not been released.
The woman was charged with assault by auto and drunken driving.