SEAVILLE- The drivers involved in the Dec. 8 motor vehicle accident on route 50 have been identified as Trooper Joseph Mercurio, 25, of the Woodbine Station and John Kiger, 29, of Woodbine.
According to Sgt. Stephen Jones, Mercurio was going north on route 50 when he observed a car pass him in the opposite direction at a high rate of speed.
Mercurio pulled to the right shoulder and was about to turn around when a second vehicle approached from the opposite direction.
That second vehicle was a troop car about to stop the same speeder. After that troop car passed, Mercurio attempted to turn around, but pulled into the path of a 2008 Ford Focus driven by Kiger that had closed the distance from behind him while Mercurio waited for the troop car to pass.
The front end of the Focus struck the driver’s side of Murcurio’s troop car.
Kiger was transported to Shore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point by the Upper Township Rescue Squad. He was treated and released. His four-year-old daughter, was properly secured in a child seat in the rear seat and was not transported to the hospital from the scene, according to Jones.
Mercurio went to Cape Regional Hospital for minor head and neck pain and was treated and released.
The accident remains under investigation. The Troopers were assisted by the crime scene detectives and fatal accident investigators, as is standard in troop car accidents with any injuries.
Contact Scheeler at: (609) 404-6515 or hscheeler@cmcherald.com
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