This time, no one died.
That hasn’t always been the case at the high-speed, low-visibility intersection of West Elm Street and Forest Road, where yet another car crash took place in Westville Tuesday morning.
Once again, emergency workers and neighbors were left shaking their heads about a dangerous spot that officials have been pressed to improve for years.
This latest crash involved an off-duty city police officer, Richard LaRock, and a family visiting town from Ontario.
Ghaouti and Radia Ketita (at left and center in their photo, with their nephew, Mohammed Dib, at right) were leaving the home of relatives on West Elm shortly before 10 a.m.
They drove west to the intersection, where West Elm ends and meets Forest. First they stopped at the stop sign. It’s set too far back to see the cars zooming north along the winding curve of Forest Road. So, they said, they inched forward. And forward.
Ghaouti was behind the wheel, Radia, in the passenger seat of their Buick Regal (pictured being towed later Tuesday morning).
They were planning to make a left onto Forest, which is state Route 122.
Like many other drivers seeking to make that turn, Ghaouti ended up well into the northbound lane as he searched the road for oncoming cars, then prepared to turn.
An off-duty city cop, Detective Richard LaRock of the Tactical Narcotics Unit, was driving his Mazda 626LX (pictured) northbound on Forest. He drove right into the Ghaoutis’ car. Both cars were banged up.
“We looked left and right. Nobody was coming. At the last minute we were advancing” when the Mazda seemed to appear out of nowhere, Radia said. She was visibly shaken. But she said she and her husband were not injured in the crash.
LaRock was. An ambulance crew arrived on the scene and transported the officer to the hospital for treatment. Cops on the scene said LaRock will be OK — his knee was banged up. The crash also released the car’s airbag.
Some of LaRock’s buddies showed up to remove items from his car before it got towed.
The crash happened right in front of the Forest Road home of the late Jerry Gross. Gross was driving home from synagogue one morning last year when he too tried to cross the intersection from West Elm. A driver whipping around that northbound curve slammed into Gross’s car and killed him.
Most recently, a five-car pile-up occurred at the instersection 11 days ago.
Those and other accidents have led neighbors to clamor for safety improvements at the intersection. City officials have been sympathetic and discussed the matter with neighbors and state officials. But a solution has proved elusive. For one, it involves a state road (Forest) and a city road (West Elm), and therefore two bureaucracies. Also, the city’s first main suggestion — making West Elm one-way — met with disapproval from the neighbors. Some neighbors, including Gross’s widow, Ruth Gross, have suggested closing off West Elm.
Click here to read a previous article detailing the issue.
City transportation chief Mike Piscitelli said Tuesday the city is still seeking a solution. At the suggestion of the state, it hopes to take down a tree near the corner to improve visibility. But it needs permission from the owner of a house there — a house under foreclosure. So dealing with the bank has added time to the process. Piscitelli said the city hadn’t to date considered the idea of closing the end of West Elm to traffic.
“This corner is terrible. There’s always accidents here,” said Mohammed Dib. “It’s ridiculous. They’ve got to do something.”