Police: Details on Route 36 Accident

A morning Middletown accident on Route 36 that resulted in a scramble of two vehicles on the highway median and sent two to the hospital showed “no indication of alcohol or drug use being factors,” Middletown Police Lt. John Maguire said.

The accident took place at about 9 a.m., between Valley and Thousand Oaks drives, when a Ford pick-up truck, driven by Mark J. Card, 32, of Keyport, veered off the stretch of highway and struck two flatbed trailers — one a Garden State Trucking vehicle and the other a United Crane Rentals truck — loaded with construction materials that were parked on the side of the highway waiting to enter a construction site, Maguire added.

After striking the trucks, Card’s vehicle “rotated back onto the highway and hit a 2006 Honda, operated by Danielle Stevens, 34, of Metuchen. Stevens’ vehicle then came to a rest on the highway’s center (grass) median,” Maguire explained. “As a result, the highway (east) had to be cut off to traffic for about two hours.”

Card and Stevens were both transported, by Middletown EMS and MONOC paramedics, to Jersey Shore University Medical Center’s Regional Trauma Unit, Neptune, where they are being treated.

Maguire said that their injuries appeared to be moderate.

The crash is under investigation, by Maguire and patrolmen Nick Caprio and Darrin Simon.

Anyone with information concerning the incident is asked to contact the Traffic Bureau at 732-615-2045.