By Anthony J. Machcinski
West Hudson commuters headed home last Wednesday (April 25) evening were snarled in traffic after a four-car pileup near the 2.46-mile marker on Belleville Turnpike in Kearny that resulted in one fatality.
As a result of the accident, 59-year-old North Arlington resident Karen Augustine was killed from injuries sustained in the 5:39 p.m. accident.
Police believe the accident happened after Augustine, driving her 1997 BMW westbound on Route 7, slowed down for traffic and was rear-ended by a 2011 Mazda MPV operated by a 71-year-old Glen Ridge resident. The impact sent Augustine’s BMW into the eastbound lane, sideswiping a 2000 Ford van driven by a North Arlington resident before colliding head-on with a 2008 Ford Explorer driven by a Saddle Brook man.
Augustine, who taught at Public School 38 in Jersey City, was taken by Kearny EMS to Clara Maass Hospital, Belleville, where she was pronounced dead from her injuries at 6:42 p.m.
Also hurt in the crash were a couple in the Ford van who had apparently suffered minor neck and back injuries, and the Explorer driver who had neck, back, and chest injuries who was kept overnight at an area hospital.
The accident closed down a nearly two-mile stretch of Belleville Turnpike, from the Rt. 7/County Road 508 fork to Schuyler Ave. The accident itself took place near the overpass that crosses the old Erie Railroad tracks. The road was reopened around 9:15 p.m. that same night.
Kearny Police are investigating the cause of the accident.
