Local Victim ID'd In Fatal Parkway Car Fire In Bergen County

The victim was identified in a fatal Palisades Interstate Parkway crash Thursday that involved a car crashing into a tree and catching fire. Police released video of the blaze.

The operator was identified as Albert Stanczyk, 69, of Fort Lee, police said.

The crash happened on Thursday at 5:08 p.m. when emergency personnel received multiple 911 calls reporting a car that struck a tree and caught fire on the Parkway southbound, south of Exit 3, in the Alpine area, police said.

Upon arrival, officers found a fully involved vehicle that had run into tree on the left shoulder, and an unconscious male victim lying in the grass, police said.

Officers began CPR while the fire department, EMS, paramedics, and medevac were requested. Paramedics arrived and pronounced the victim dead on the scene while the Alpine Fire Department extinguished the fire.

It was later determined that the vehicle had traveled out of the left lane, onto the grass and then struck a tree at a high rate of speed. A passing civilian motorist stopped and pulled the operator from the vehicle as it engulfed in flames and almost burned the driver, police said.

Officers arrived shortly thereafter and started treatment. Detectives arrived as well as the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department BCI unit for photos.

Although the investigation is still ongoing, at this time it appears that the operator may have been unconscious prior to the collision However, an autopsy by the Bergen County Medical Examiner’s Office is still pending.

PIP photo