Massive Wreck in New Jersey Ensnares Police Car, Ambulance, Fire Truck

A stock photo shows an ambulance with lights flashing. (Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

A massive wreck on a highway in New Jersey involved a fire truck, a police SUV, an ambulance, a food truck, and more.

According to NBC New York, two New Jersey State Police troopers were hospitalized, officials said.

The crash took place along Interstate 280 near exit 9 in West Orange at around 9 a.m., and a call about the incident was phoned in after 10 a.m.,  the NBC affiliate reported.

The troopers were outside their respective vehicles and were investigating another incident.

A dump truck hit both of the troopers, and it apparently caused a chain-reaction crash, NBC New York reported.

State police said their injuries were not serious.

Police are still investigating the matter, and it still isn’t clear what caused the crash.

In aerial footage captured by NBC New York, a dump truck is seen on top of a silver SUV. The front of the truck also smashed into an ambulance, which hit a fire truck.

A van with a ladder was also seen spun around with its center smashed in, the report said. There were other cars that were damaged in the wreck.

At least six vehicles were involved in the crash, according to the report.

After the crash, a fire broke out, reported CBS New York.

The New Jersey State Police tweeted that “a dump truck struck two troopers outside of their patrol cars & multiple pedestrians at an accident investigation.”

“Our thoughts and prayers to the members of the West Orange Fire Department and the New Jersey State Police who were struck while operating on Rt 280 today,” the local Morris Plains Fire Department wrote on Facebook.

Facts About Crime in the United States

Violent crime in the United States has fallen sharply over the past 25 years, according to both the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).

The rate of violent crimes fell by 49 percent between 1993 and 2017, according to the FBI’s UCR, which only reflects crimes reported to the police.

The violent crime rate dropped by 74 percent between 1993 and 2017, according to the BJS’s NCVS, which takes into account both crimes that have been reported to the police and those that have not.

“From 1993 to 2017, the rate of violent victimization declined 74 percent, from 79.8 to 20.6 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older,” the U.S. Department of Justice stated.

Both studies are based on data up to and including 2017, the most recent year for which complete figures are available.

The FBI recently released preliminary data for 2018. According to the Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January to June 2018, violent crime rates in the United States dropped by 4.3 percent compared to the same six-month period in 2017.