Bernards Ambulance, Police Car Collide En Route to Two Calls

Two callouts to emergency responders during a power outage in the northern end of Basking Ridge on Saturday morning resulted in multiple police cars, fire and rescue squad vehicles heading to the same area — when an ambulance making a left hand turn on North Maple Avenue collided with a passing police car.

According to Bernards Township police, the Basking Ridge Fire Co. and First Aid Squad had received a call shortly before 9 a.m. on Saturday that a employee at Dolce off North Maple Avenue was stuck in a freight elevator as a result of the power outage.

Shortly before, a little after 8:30 a.m., a call had been placed that an electrical panel had caught fire at a home on Butternut Lane, off Hardscrabble Road, and Bernards Patrol Officer Alex McKnight was heading to that scene, said Township Police Capt. Ed Byrnes.

Byrnes said that the Basking Ridge ambulance and police car both were heading north on North Maple Avenue with lights and sirens activated, when the ambulance slowed to turn into Dolce.

The police officer thought that the ambulance was turning right into a cloverleaf heading on an overpass to Dolce, which is the proper turn, when the ambulance apparently attempted to turn left, Byrnes said.

McKnight then began to pass the ambulance on the left hand side, when the ambulance apparently turned into the police car, causing extensive damage to the vehicle, Byrnes said.

The ambulance also was damaged and towed from the scene, he said. He said the extent of the damage to the ambulance was unknown.

Byrnes said that the volunteer ambulance driver admitted making an improper left turn, but was not cited for the accident.

Byrnes said that no injuries were reported at the scene, although the officer later experiences some soreness to the shoulder and neck.

Other emergency responders answer calls

Meanwhile, Byrnes said that the Basking Ridge Fire Co. extricated the worker from the freight elevator. He said two other patrol officers, Kevin Little and Michael Yeo, responded to the scene of the reported electrical panel fire.