Moorestown Woman's Finger Severed After Metal Smashes Windshield

A 76-year-old woman's finger was severed recently after a chunk of metal smashed through her windshield on a New Jersey highway, police said. Authorities are seeking the public's assistance.

Alice Gaines, 76, of Moorestown was driving a Toyota Highlander northbound on I-295, at milepost 61 in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, when debris from a dump truck smashed through the windshield, police said.

The metal and possibly other debris then severed her finger, police said. The incident happened Feb. 8 at about 2:07 p.m.

Gaines was then transported and treated at Helen Fuld Medical Center in Trenton.

The New Jersey State Police is seeking the public’s assistance with the investigation, and they're seeking possible eyewitness accounts to find out where the metal came from.

The dump truck is believed to be white with no identifying markings, police said. Anyone with information is asked to contact Hamilton Station at (609) 584-5000 Ext. 5297. Anonymous tips are welcome.

The woman told The Trentonian she was driving two cars behind the truck in the right-hand lane when the incident happened.

“I see this much larger hunk of metal project straight up from the bottom of the bed of the truck, up at least 30-40 feet up in the air,” the woman told The Trentonian. “I say, ‘Oh my, where is that going to land?’”

“It begins to arch within seconds,” she also told the publication. “Of course, it’s piercing through my windshield, shattering the glass and cutting off my middle finger.”

The woman said her finger was severed at the knuckle, another finger was put back together with six wires, and the tendon was cut on the pointer finger. Other fingers were mangled, she told The Trentonian. “My left hand essentially will not be normal and I will have pain and suffering for the rest of my life."

State police photo