South Brunswick Man Saves Princeton Woman’s Life After Car Crash

South Brunswick PoliceA South Brunswick man’s quick thinking helped save a Princeton couple after their car went off the roadway and flipped over Friday evening.

South Brunswick Police responded to Friendship Road near Haypress Road on a reported motor vehicle crash Just before 6 p.m. Friday. At the scene, officers found a 2006 Chrysler Sebring flipped over on its roof. The 70-year-old driver had been partially ejected from the vehicle and his 60-year-old wife remained trapped inside.

Raymond Buck, a resident of Friendship Road, ran to the vehicle after the crash and saw the dashboard was crushing the female passenger. Buck ran back into his shed and retrieved a pickaxe. He wedged the pickaxe against the dashboard and was able to pull it off the woman’s chest, allowing her to breath.

The Monmouth Junction Fire Department then arrived and worked for forty minutes to free the woman using the jaws of life. Monmouth Junction First Aid and paramedics transported the couple to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. Both are listed in serious condition. Their names have not been released.

An investigation determined the driver was having chest pains and was attempting to pull off the road just prior to the crash. The driver blacked out and his foot pressed on the accelerator. The vehicle accelerated off Friendship Road, hit a dirt pile, then became airborne and flipped over. It appears the driver suffered a heart attack prior to the crash.

“By all accounts it was Mr. Buck’s quick thinking and decisive action that saved this woman,” South Brunswick Police Chief Raymond Hayducka said. “He pulled the dashboard back allowing her to breath while rescuers worked to cut her out of the vehicle. Mr. Buck represents the best of our community, and I thank him for his selfless act.”

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