KEARNY –
Two Kearny teenagers were shaken up after their vehicle was involved in an accident on Kearny Ave. this past Friday afternoon, police said.
The accident, which occurred near the Locust Ave. intersection, involved two cars, one of which was rear-ended, according to police, who detoured traffic away from the location.
Police said the two teens – who, according to friends at the scene, were Kearny High seniors – were taken by Kearny EMS ambulance to Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville for evaluation.
The teens’ car was towed while the owner of the second car drove that vehicle away, police said. An engine crew from the Kearny Fire Department responded to hose down the street.
The accident happened only a few hours before the scheduled Kearny High School graduation ceremony and, in what has become an annual custom, many Kearny High seniors typically ride up and down Kearny Ave., the main street in town, honking their horns and shouting greetings as they go. Whether this was the case in Friday’s incident, police couldn’t confirm.
One student on Kearny Ave. said he didn’t see the accident but sometimes, he said, the seniors who ride along the avenue “are honking their horns and shouting out the windows and they don’t pay attention to traffic.”
On Friday, police said they didn’t know the extent of any injuries the teens may have suffered but Kearny High Principal Al Gilson, reached over the weekend, said the students “did attend graduation and we’re really happy about that.”
Mayor Alberto Santos said the mishap brought to mind an incident that, he said, happened on a high school graduation day in 2008 in which a student “surfing” on a pickup truck fell from the vehicle and was killed.
When informed about the “tradition,” Gilson – who is completing his first year in the Kearny school district – said he was unaware of the history but it was “something I’m going to address with the [acting] superintendent (Patricia Blood).”
– Ron Leir
