Traffic on I-78 East through Newark was crawling along in the local lanes on Tuesday morning. Drivers were sitting bumper to bumper near milepost 56.8. Ayesha Wright, 42, was behind the wheel of her Chevrolet sedan, stopped in the left lane with her 25-year-old passenger, Kendra Rouse. Both women were Newark residents out on a routine morning drive.
A Mack tractor hauling a utility trailer was heading east down the same stretch of highway. As the commercial truck approached the line of stopped cars in the left lane, the driver realized traffic had ground to a halt ahead.
To avoid smashing directly into the back of Wright’s Chevrolet, the truck driver yanked the wheel to execute a sudden swerve. The sharp movement at highway speeds threw off the heavy rig’s center of gravity. Instead of safely steering around the car, the entire tractor-trailer tipped sideways and landed right on top of the small sedan.
State troopers from the New Jersey State Police responded to the emergency calls around 9:10 a.m. When officers arrived at milepost 56.8, they found the overturned Mack truck crushing the Chevrolet in the local eastbound lanes.
Emergency crews immediately worked to secure the scene and reach the occupants inside the crushed sedan. Wright and Rouse suffered massive, fatal injuries in the impact. Medical personnel declared both women dead at the crash site.
The driver of the tractor-trailer managed to pull out of the overturned cab with only minor injuries. Paramedics examined the driver on the highway while troopers shut down lanes to preserve the crash scene for investigation.
New Jersey State Police troopers are continuing their investigation into the crash mechanics and traffic conditions leading up to the rollover. The sudden accident left two local Newark families dealing with an unimaginable loss from what started as a simple morning drive.
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