(The following appeared on The Trentonian website on May 14, 2010.)
RIVERTON, N.J. — Fifteen people were treated for minor injuries this morning when a mini-van pulled in front of an NJ Transit train at the Main Street crossing.
Twelve of the injured were aboard the train, three in the minivan. They were all taken to Cooper University Medical Center in Camden for treatment.
NJT spokesman Dan Stessel said the train was slowing down for the nearby station stop in this Burlington County community, and sounding its horn, at the time the man driving the minivan apparently didn’t see the gates or the flashing lights or the “NO RIGHT TURN” sign and began crossing the tracks.
Sixty people were aboard the train. Service was halted between 10:50 a.m. and 12:20 p.m. as shuttle buses took passengers on to the Cinnaminson station. Service was resumed at 1 p.m.
The driver, Nuran Zivali, 38, of Edgewater Park, was given summonses for careless driving and failure to observe a traffic signal, Stessel said. Two people with the same last name, a 5-months-pregnant passenger and a year-old baby in the back seat, were not identified.