Victim identified in New Jersey Turnpike pile-up in Cranbury

CRANBURY, N.J. (WABC) -- A number of crashes on an icy interstate toll road involving 40 vehicles that left one person dead and several others injured are under investigation, New Jersey State Police said Tuesday.

The accidents began on the New Jersey Turnpike just before 9:15 p.m. Monday during a mix of rain and snow flurries and below-freezing temperatures in Cranbury, a township about 40 miles southwest of New York City.

In total, there were 21 vehicles involved in multiple accidents on the inner roadway, which is reserved for cars, and 19 vehicles involved in crashes on the outer roadway, which is used by trucks and cars, state police said.

Ice was a factor in the pileups, authorities said.

Two tractor-trailers obstructed the road when they lost control in the truck lanes as they attempted to avoid earlier crashes, triggering a chain-reaction crash involving 13 vehicles in which Daryl Williams, 52, of Bordentown, N.J., became trapped in his car and died, state police said.

Williams, a US Postal Service employee in the processing and distribution center in Kearny, died in the wreck in the outer lanes. He had just been inducted into the High School Athletic Hall of fame this past weekend.

There was extensive guardrail damage resulting from the wreck. The southbound car lanes reopened to traffic around 3 a.m. Tuesday, but the truck lanes did not reopen until later.

The accidents were under investigation and police did not issue any tickets.

Multiple people reported injuries, but none was considered life-threatening, state police said. The most seriously injured of all was the bus driver. Most of the injured were on the bus.

The injured were taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton; Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton; University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro; and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

The crash occurred during a mix of rain and snow flurries and below-freezing temperatures in Cranbury. A 35 mph speed restriction was enforced for parts of the New Jersey Turnpike due to icy conditions Monday evening. Cranbury, where the crash occurred, was included in the speed restriction.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.