By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
[Editor’s Note: this story contains updated information from the Prosecutor’s Office]
One teenager was killed and two others were seriously injured in an early-morning crash in Middletown Sunday, authorities said.
The crash, in which a 1992 Honda Accord hit a tree on Cooper Road, claimed the life of 18-year-old Paul Bradley.
The car’s driver, Adam Sofio, of Red Bank, and another passenger, John Vogel, were airlifted to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune with “serious, but non-life threatening injuries,” Administrative Assistant Prosecutor Michael Cunningham said.
At about 2:05a Sunday, Sofio was driving west on Cooper Road and lost control of the car, running off the left side of the road and hitting a tree, which “resulted in the vehicle basically splitting into two pieces,” he said.
Bradley was pronounced dead on the scene at about 3a, determined to be a result of head, chest and abdominal injuries, Cunningham said.
Sofio and Vogel were airlifted to the hospital. Cunningham said Vogel fractured his right femur and possibly dislocated his pelvis, and Sofio suffered a fracture in the middle of his back and possibly dislocated his left hip.
Authorities are investigating whether alcohol and/or excessive speed were a factor in the crash, Cunningham said. It remains under investigation by Middletown police and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
