{"id":2990,"date":"2019-04-07T14:42:24","date_gmt":"2019-04-07T18:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=2990"},"modified":"2020-09-26T00:04:40","modified_gmt":"2020-09-26T04:04:40","slug":"cops-sun-glare-may-have-contributed-to-serious-motorcycle-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2019\/04\/cops-sun-glare-may-have-contributed-to-serious-motorcycle-accident\/","title":{"rendered":"Cops: Sun Glare May Have Contributed to Serious Motorcycle Accident"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Police

Police Lights (Photo: Jason Rojas\/Flickr)<\/p><\/div>\n

Police in Toms River say a motorcyclist may have experienced sun glare before proceeding through a red light, causing an accident on Route 37.<\/p>\n

According to police spokeswoman Jillian Messina, on\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Saturday April<\/span><\/span> 6, 2019<\/span><\/span> at <\/span><\/span>6:<\/span><\/span>17 <\/span><\/span>p.m.<\/span><\/span>, Walter Smith<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>72 <\/span><\/span>of<\/span><\/span> Medford, was operating a 2011 Harley Davidson in the center lane, westbound on Route 37<\/span><\/span> E<\/span><\/span>ast<\/span><\/span>. \u00a0And investigation at the scene revealed \u00a0Smith entered the intersection of Coolidge Ave against a red traffic signal, according to police. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, Michael A. Koch<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>66<\/span><\/span> of <\/span><\/span>Toms River, was operating a 2015 Toyota Camry southbound on Coolidge Ave through the intersection with a green traffic signal, with his wife, Wanda Koch as a passenger. Smith collided with the front driver\u2019s side quarter and hood of the Toyota Camry and was ejected from his motorcycle. \u00a0Witnesses at the scene said sun glare could have been a significant factor in the accident, according to police.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Smith was flown to Jersey Shore Medical Center<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and underwent\u00a0<\/span><\/span>emergency surgery. He sustained severe pelvic fractures and is <\/span><\/span>listed <\/span><\/span>in critical condition \u2013 and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>will be undergoing additional surgeries today.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The accident is being <\/span><\/span>incvestigated<\/span><\/span> by Toms River Traffic Safety Officer Adam <\/span><\/span>Koeppen<\/span><\/span>. \u00a0<\/span><\/span>Traffic<\/span><\/span> westbound on Route 37<\/span><\/span> E<\/span><\/span>ast<\/span><\/span> was diverted onto Coolidge Ave for approximately one hour while the scene was active.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police in Toms River say a motorcyclist may have experienced sun glare before proceeding through a red light, causing an accident on Route 37. According to police spokeswoman Jillian Messina, on\u00a0Saturday April 6, 2019 at 6:17 p.m., Walter Smith, 72 of Medford, was operating a 2011 Harley Davidson in the center lane, westbound on Route […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-police-fire-courts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-10-26-at-3.09.49-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}