A woman was killed and another seriously injured when their disabled minivan was struck by an SUV along the southbound New Jersey Turnpike in Middlesex County early Thursday morning.
Jadira Espinal, 40, of Philadelphia, was seated in a passenger’s seat of a minivan stuck in the center lane of the inner roadway when it was hit by the SUV. Espinal was thrown from the vehicle, according to New Jersey State Police.The driver of the minivan — a 20-year-old Philadelphia woman — had exited the minivan to assist Espinal and was seriously injured after also being hit by the SUV, a State Police spokesman said.
A 55-year-old man from the Fords section of Woodbridge driving the SUV was not hurt.
The minivan was disabled after an earlier crash, though details of that wreck weren’t immediately available.
The crash took place around 4:30 a.m. near milepost 80.2 in East Brunswick — between exits 9 and 8A. It remains under investigation.
State Police closed the inner roadway for hours and traffic was backed up for about 11 miles on the outer roadway during the heart of the morning rush.