FedEx Driver Saves Man In South Brunswick

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — South Brunswick Police Chief Raymond Hayducka is crediting the fast actions of a FedEx driver with saving a motorist Thursday night. At 8:28 p.m. police received several 911 calls of a motor vehicle accident involving an overturned vehicle on fire on Ridge Road.

When police arrived, they found the driver of the crashed vehicle, a 24-year-old Spotswood man, injured but away from the vehicle. Police learned that after he swerved to avoid an oncoming car, he lost control of the Nissan and went off the road. He struck a large landscaping rock in front of 308 Ridge Road and became airborne. While in the air, the car flipped as it struck a commercial business sign. The Nissan came to rest, overturned on the front lawn of 306 Ridge Road and caught fire.

A passing FedEx driver, Anthony Lanza of North Brunswick, who was traveling westbound on Ridge Road, witnessed the crash and immediately headed to the overturned Nissan. Lanza could see fire from the front of the Nissan but was unable to see if anyone was inside the vehicle from the driver’s window. Lanza went around the passenger’s side and opened the door. He saw the younger man bleeding in the vehicle and assisted in getting him out and away from the car. Lanza returned to his FedEx truck, retrieved a fire extinguisher and put out the fire.

“It is clear Mr. Lanza’s actions prevented this crash from becoming a tragedy. The impact of the crash was so forceful it pushed a thousand pound landscaping rock fifteen feet and caused the Nissan’s gas tank to rupture," said Chief Hayducka. "Mr. Lanza got the driver away from the vehicle and stopped the fire from spreading to the ruptured gas tank."

"He put his own safety at risk in rescuing the injured driver. The first officer was on scene of the crash in less than a minute, but seconds count and Mr. Lanza made all the difference," he said.

The driver was taken by Monmouth Junction First Aid Squad to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick for treatment. The Monmouth Junction Fire Department also responded to the call. The accident remains under investigation.

Photo from crash released by South Brunswick police