BREAKING: Cop From Ocean County Killed in Highway Crash

By CARLY BALDWIN and TOM DAVIS (Patch Staff)

An off-duty police officer from N.J. was killed in an early morning crash Tuesday, police said.

The accident involving the off-duty Port Authority officer from Ocean County happened in the southbound truck lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike.

Eamonn Mautone of Jackson lost control of his Subaru at 3:20 a.m. Tuesday, and crashed into the left guard rail, reports NJ.com. The rainy weather at the time might have played a role in the fatal crash, police said. He lived in Jackson, N.J.

Mautone was 25 and on the Port Authority police force for about a year. His assigned patrol was the World Trade Center, where his shift was 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to a Port Authority spokesman.

“The Port Authority family suffered a loss ... with the death of Port Authority Police Office Eamonn J. Mautone, who was fatally injured in a motor vehicle accident while off duty in New Jersey,” said Port Authority Police Superintendent Michael Fedorko in a statement. “Officer Mautone joined the department in August 2014 and was assigned to the World Trade Center command. Our thoughts and prayers are with Officer Mautone’s family, friends and fellow officers during this difficult time.”

Photo courtesy the Port Authority Police Marine Corps Association.