2 Dead In Nearby Garden State Parkway Crashes Minutes Apart: Police

CLIFTON, NJ - Two separate crashes on the same stretch of the Garden State Parkway – and minutes apart – claimed two lives Monday morning, state police said.

At around 5:43 a.m. near milepost 157.9 in Clifton, a BMW X5 was found to have run off the right side of the road and struck multiple trees and a guardrail before overturning and re-entering the road, a New Jersey State Police spokesperson told Patch.

All three occupants of the vehicle were ejected, with one occupant pronounced dead at the scene. The other two riders sustained serious injuries, state police said. The crash remains under investigation.

Minutes later, state troopers responded to another crash at 5:56 a.m. at milepost 159.7 in Elmwood Park, with an unknown vehicle found to have struck a pedestrian in the roadway and fled the scene, police said.

A BMW 330 that traveled over the pedestrian remained at the scene, police added.

The pedestrian sustained fatal injuries, and the crash remains under investigation, police said.