A New Jersey man died in a fire after repeatedly starting his SUV’s engine while trying to get out of a snow bank, officials said.
Shortly after 9 am on Wednesday, police in Little Ferry said police officers responded to a report of a car stuck in a pile of snow after falling into an embankment near Losen Slote Creek Park, about 10 miles northwest of New York City.
Little Ferry police captain Ronald Klein told NBC News on Thursday that two police officers found a 62-year-old driver repeatedly revving the engine and rocking his Mazda SUV back and forth to dislodge the vehicle from the snow.
He said police officers told the man to stop accelerating to no avail before telling him they would return to the vehicle to call a tow truck. As they walked back to the vehicle, the police heard a popping sound and saw the SUV catch on fire.
The police tried to get into the vehicle, but Klein said the doors were locked. After several attempts to break into the SUV, a police officer ended up breaking the passenger’s rear window.
At that point, Klein said the vehicle was engulfed in flames and smoke, forcing police to retreat a safe distance from the SUV.
The driver’s name was not released, but his family was notified, police said.
The Little Ferry Police Department and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office will oversee the investigation.
The accident was one of several deadly incidents during a major winter storm that suspended flights, cut electricity and closed schools and vaccination sites for Covid-19 across the Northeast.
A man in Plains Township, Pennsylvania, shot a couple in his neighborhood in a murder-suicide over a snow removal dispute on Monday morning.
In Allentown, Pennsylvania, a 67-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s disease died of hypothermia after moving away from her home, NBC Philadelphia reported. His body was found four blocks away on Monday morning.
In Adamstown, Maryland, a 64-year-old man died after riding in the back of a recycling service truck he drove overturned on an icy road around noon on Monday, said the County Sheriff’s Office Frederick.
And two people – a 69-year-old woman and a 42-year-old woman – died in Pennsylvania in separate incidents on Sunday, state police said. The 42-year-old woman died in an accident during the snowstorm in Tioga County, and the other 69-year-old woman fell in slippery conditions during the snow in Bucks County.
