2 pedestrians struck, killed on New Jersey Turnpike in crash involving police vehicle

SECAUCUS, N.J. (WABC) -- Two pedestrians were struck and killed on the New Jersey Turnpike in a crash involving a police vehicle.

The victims, a man and a woman, were on the northbound eastern spur, just south of the Vince Lombardi Service Area, around 1 a.m. when they were hit. Their 2001 Cadillac Escalade had become disabled on the southbound side of the roadway, and they were walking in the left, northbound lane near milepost 115 when they were struck by a Washington Township Police car.

The two, identified as Jason Champion, 41, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Nuwnah Laroche, 34, of East Elmhurst, were pronounced dead at the scene.

The police vehicle with a smashed front window and front-end damage was parked on the turnpike at the crash scene. The officer driving the car, 46-year-old Officer Arsenio Pecora, had been northbound, heading back from a training exercise at Fort Dix when he hit the two. Pecora was treated and released from the hospital.

The turnpike's northbound Eastern Spur was closed for five hours for the accident investigation, but started to reopen just before 5 a.m. Traffic was backed up for miles, with many vehicles stopped for hours. Two northbound lanes were closed for the morning commute.

Both vehicles, the police car and a Honda SUV, were towed from the scene around 6 a.m.