Crash claims life of man, 36

The driver of a pickup truck that collided with a school bus on Union Hill Road, Manalapan, on Friday has died as a result of his injuries.

JERRY WOLKOWITZ Police, fire and EMS personnel transport a St. John Vianney High School student from a school bus to a stretcher following an accident at Union Hill and Pease roads, Manalapan, on the afternoon of May 26. A Manalapan man was killed in the crash which involved the bus and a pickup truck.

Thomas Sozzi, 36, a father of three, was near his home on Union Hill Road when his pickup truck and a school bus from St. John Vianney School, Holmdel, that was transporting students home to Monroe Township, Jamesburg and Spotswood collided, according to Manalapan Police Capt. Stuart Brown.

Brown said the bus, which is owned by Irvin Raphael Inc., East Brunswick, was traveling west on Union Hill Road when it and Sozzi’s truck, which was traveling east, collided near the Pease Road intersection a little before 3 p.m.

Brown said the full-size school bus had 28 students on board. He said the bus driver, Gary Mason, 44, of South River, and 19 students were transported to several area hospitals.

Emergency and first aid squads from Manalapan, Marlboro, Millstone Township and Freehold Township responded to the scene.

Manalapan police investigate at the scene of Friday’s crash involving a school bus and a pickup truck at Union Hill and Pease roads that resulted in the death of a Manalapan resident.

Jason Hershcopf, captain of the Englishtown-Manalapan First Aid Squad, said his team was the first to arrive and found Sozzi under the windshield inside his truck.

Sozzi was airlifted to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, where he died Sunday as a result of his injuries, Brown said.

Hershcopf said the other injuries observed at the scene appeared to be minor and said students were transported for medical evaluation because they were minors.

He said more students were transported than squad personnel initially thought necessary because many parents of students on the bus arrived at the scene and requested that their child be transported for emergency room evaluation.

As of press time Tuesday, Brown said the cause of the crash had not been determined. An investigation is continuing.