Police say the trooper who had to be rescued from a mangled police vehicle after crashing into a tree off a New Jersey highway Monday is being treated for serious injuries at a local hospital.
The trooper, 26-year-old Jeffrey Almeida, was airlifted to University Medical Center in Newark after he was extricated from the police car off I-78 in Warren. He has serious but non-life threatening leg injuries, state police say.
Almeida was driving the marked Ford Crown Victoria eastbound on I-78 when he collided with an Acura sedan driven by a 29-year-old Newark man, according to state police.
The impact sent the police vehicle flying off the left side of the roadway, and it entered the grassy median and hit several trees.
Almeida was entrapped in the vehicle and had to be extricated, police said. He was airlifted to University Medical Center.
The other driver wasn't hurt. Both were wearing seatbelts.
Police say the cause and circumstances of the crash remain under investigation.
