George Washington Bridge Crash: 5-Year-Old Among 2 Dead, Officials Say

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY - Two people were killed and three more were injured Wednesday night when an SUV crashed into the rear of a truck on the George Washington Bridge, officials told Patch.

The two people who died have been identified as a 5-year-old girl and a man in his 30s — both inside the SUV — a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey told Patch. Three other people inside the SUV — a woman in her 30s, a woman in her 70s and a 1-year-old infant — suffered minor injuries, officials said. All five people were sent to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Washington Heights, the Port Authority spokesman said.

Shortly before 9 p.m. the SUV, a GMC Acadia, slammed into the back of a truck stopped in a traffic lane on the upper level of the George Washington Bridge, the Port Authority spokesman told Patch. The collision occurred on the New York side of the bridge, the spokesman said.

The collision caused traffic to come to a halt on both the upper and lower levels of the bridge in both directions, a Port Authority spokesman said. Heavy traffic and lane closures were affecting the bridge after first responders left the scene, the spokesman said.

Patch editor Daniel Hubbard contributed to this report.

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