Police Seek Witnesses to School Bus Accident

Middletown police are investigating an early Friday morning school bus accident and asking witnesses for assistance in gleaning facts.

So far, what they know is that at 6:39 a.m. they responded to a motor vehicle crash on Route 35, just south of New Monmouth Road, a release from the department said.

At the scene, a Helfrich bus, driven by Beverly Cerbone, 65, of the Port Monmouth section of Middletown had been traveling, without passengers, south on the highway when it struck a tractor trailer parked on the road shoulder, police said.

Cerbone was flown to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, for treatment of “non-life threatening injuries,” police added.

“The driver of the tractor trailer was not inside his vehicle at the time of the crash and left the scene on foot prior to police arrival,” the release said. “Video footage of the driver was obtained from a local store.”

Police identified the driver from the video footage and are in the process of working with the trucking company to find him.

In the meantime, they are asking that anyone who may have witnessed the accident contact the department’s Traffic Bureau at 732-615-2045.

The investigation is being led by Corporal Darrin Simon.

The New Jersey State Police, the Leonardo and Middletown First Aids squads, the Old Village and Middletown fire companies, and Monoc Paramedics assisted at the scene.