Two Pennsylvania residents were killed and three other people were seriously injured in the first minutes of Saturday, November 7, 2026, when an SUV turning out of a banquet hall in Old Bridge, New Jersey, was struck on Route 9 by a second SUV travelling southbound, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

Source: Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office via Englebrook Independent News

Middlesex County Prosecutor Linda Estremera and Old Bridge Police Chief Thomas Montagna reported that the fatal collision occurred at approximately 12:01 a.m. on Route 9 South, near the Grand Marquis Banquet Hall in Old Bridge, a township in Middlesex County in central New Jersey.

Authorities identified the two people who died as Anthony Pizzo, 32, and Lindsey Clarke, 33, both residents of Wyoming, Pennsylvania. The two were passengers seated in the rear of a Ford SUV, and both were pronounced dead at the scene.

How the crash happened, as investigators describe it

According to investigators, the Ford SUV was operated by a 35-year-old man from Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, who was travelling with three passengers. The vehicle was leaving the Grand Marquis Banquet Hall when the driver attempted to make a left turn onto Route 9 North.

During that attempted turn, the Ford was struck on the driver's side by a Lexus SUV travelling southbound on Route 9, operated by a 34-year-old man from Old Bridge. Authorities did not disclose the speed of either vehicle, and they have not identified the circumstances that contributed to the collision.

The Lexus driver was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital with serious injuries. The Ford driver and his front-seat passenger were also transported to the same hospital with serious injuries, bringing the total number of injured people to three. Authorities have not publicly identified either driver.

The investigation

The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office and the Old Bridge Police Department are jointly continuing the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the collision. The prosecutor's office said the investigation remains active and that additional details may become available as authorities continue their work. No charges have been announced.

Route 9 through Middlesex County

Route 9 is one of New Jersey's principal north-south highways, running through the suburbs of Middlesex County — including Old Bridge and neighbouring Sayreville — and carrying heavy local traffic as well as drivers heading toward the Jersey Shore. Long stretches of the highway are lined with banquet halls, restaurants and shopping centres whose entrances open directly onto the road, so vehicles regularly turn across fast-moving lanes to enter and leave them, including late at night when events end.

For readers in Middlesex County's large Punjabi and wider South Asian communities — centred a short drive north around Edison and Iselin, among the best-known diaspora hubs in the United States — Route 9 is an everyday driving corridor for work, family events and gurdwara visits, and a fatal crash at a banquet-hall exit on a Friday night touches a setting many families know well: a celebration ending after midnight, and cars pulling out onto a dark, fast highway.

What happens next

Investigators will reconstruct the collision — the Ford's turn out of the banquet hall, the Lexus's southbound path, vehicle speeds, lighting and sight lines — before any decision on charges. The names of the two drivers have been withheld while they are treated for serious injuries and while the investigation continues, and the prosecutor's office has said further details will be released as they become available. The two passengers who died, Anthony Pizzo and Lindsey Clarke, were both from Wyoming, in Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, roughly two hours' drive from Old Bridge.