Howell Man ID'd As Victim In Horrific Route 9 Crash

By TOM DAVIS (Patch Staff)

OLD BRIDGE, NJ -- A Howell Township man was one of three people who died Tuesday in a fatal crash on Route 9, police said Wednesday.

William Fairchild Jr., 45, was killed when the blue Ford Escape he was driving south on Route 9 crossed over the median and into the northbound lanes and hit a Honda Accord near Route 516 about 12:30 p.m., Old Bridge police said.

Also killed were Hope T. Wells, 37, of Freehold, the driver of the Honda, and her passenger, Charles H. Kleiman, 62, of San Rafael, Calif., police said.

Two other passengers in the Honda, an 86-year-old woman and a 62-year-old woman, were seriously injured and taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, police said.

Video footage from the scene captured by Eyewitness News shows two crumpled cars and skid marks on the roadway, circled by police in red chalk. A Manalapan woman driving by took photos of the crash scene.

The accident is under investigation, police said.

Route 9 north through Old Bridge Township was closed for hours due to the crash.