George Washington Bridge Crash Kills 5-Year-Old Child, Man
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A man and 5-year-old child were killed and three other people injured when an out of control SUV slammed into the back of a tractor-trailer on the George Washington Bridge on Wednesday night.
All upper inbound lanes were closed for hours overnight as police investigated the crash which happened around 10 p.m. Wednesday.
Police said an SUV with New Jersey plates was driving eastbound on the upper level with five people inside -- a man in his 30s, a woman in her 30s, a 70-year-old woman, a 5-year-old child and an infant. The car crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer that was stopped in traffic, CBS2's Ali Bauman reported.
The roof and trunk door of the SUV were completely torn off.
Sources say it appears those five people were driving home from a party Wednesday night, they even had balloons in the car, Bauman reported.
All five were taken to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where the man and 5-year-old child were pronounced dead.
Authorities said the two women and the infant sustained minor injuries, but are expected to be OK.
Police closed off all upper and some lower level lanes to investigate, creating a back up that lasted hours and took some drivers more than 90 minutes to pass through. The backup lasted into the early morning and cleared up around 4 a.m. Thursday.
The names of the victims have not been released.
The investigation is ongoing.