Jersey newspaper pressured to remove video of toll plaza crash on Garden State Parkway

The Press of Atlantic City newspaper removed video of a fiery crash at the Great Egg Toll Plaza on the Garden State Parkway from their website under pressure from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. But it is still available on other sites, and TV stations have shown the video. The video comes from one of the Authority's own surveillance cameras located high on a pole overlooking the approaches to the plaza. The video is date and time stamped across the bottom.

Either Turnpike staff or police must have released the video which began running only a few days ago - a week after the crash.

The video shows a white car barreling into the toll plaza at full highway speed, running up a short bullnose and into a toll booth and bursting into flames almost immediately. The flames reach their maximum intensity within seconds.

A police car pulls up very quickly and the policeman runs towards the burning remains of the car but is helpless to do anything except watch.

The police were close by doing a truck emissions checkpoint.

The crash occurred at 8:23am May 10. The Great Egg toll plaza is a barrier plaza tolling southbound only, located at Milepost 28.8.

Bernard King, 52, a casino dealer of Middle Township in May county to the south was driving the car by himself and died in the crash and inferno. Since there is no sign of the car slowing at all the video suggests King he either suicided or was unconscious at the wheel.  He was driving toward his home when he  crashed and died.

Local reports said he had a history of seizures, including a seizure just three hours before his fatal crash that had him taken to a hospital.

Three toll lanes were closed after the accident.

The Press of Atlantic City quotes a New Jersey Turnpike Authority spokesman as saying the video was "disturbing." Some people are easily disturbed!

TV stations in the US generally have a self-imposed policy of not showing a person's death in graphic detail. In this case all you see in the video is the car and the destruction of the car.

There is no picture close enough. or of enough resolution, to show King and his death.

The Turnpike would have no legal basis for intervening.

Here is one source for the video: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ac0_1179427280

Below are still pictures we have taken from the video.

TOLLROADSnews 2007-05-19