Four young Jewish men were tragically killed early Sunday morning, October 19, in a devastating wrong-way crash on the New Jersey Turnpike, authorities said.
New Jersey State Police responded to the scene near milepost 1.3 at approximately 12:42 a.m. Officials reported that Christopher Neff, 41, of Westminster, Colorado, was driving a Dodge pickup truck northbound in the southbound lanes when he collided head-on with a Mazda SUV traveling south.
The Mazda was driven by Yaakov Kilberg, 19, of Lakewood, and carried three passengers: Aharon Lebovits, 18, and Shlomo Cohen, 18, both of Lakewood, and Chaim Grossman, 18, of Fallsburg, New York. Following the initial collision, the Mazda was struck by a Freightliner tractor-trailer driven by Harpret Singh Sandhu, 29, of Nova Scotia.
Tragically, all four occupants of the Mazda — Kilberg, Lebovits, Cohen, and Grossman — were pronounced dead at the scene. Neff suffered serious injuries, while Sandhu was unharmed.
State police confirmed that the investigation is ongoing and urged anyone with information about the crash to come forward. This devastating incident has left families and the Lakewood community in shock and mourning the loss of four promising young lives.
The New Jersey Turnpike was temporarily closed as first responders worked at the scene, and authorities continue to assess the circumstances surrounding the deadly collision.
