Montclair Crash Traps Man in Car

A car crash left its driver trapped between his car and tree for nearly two hours before police could get him out late Thursday evening. 

A blue, four-door Jaguar with at least one person inside crashed into a tree in Yantacaw Brook on Yantacaw Brook Road around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. The car appeared to have driven over the curb, sidewalk and hit the tree about 15 feet from the street near the intersection of Heller Drive. 

The brook was cordoned off with police tape as more than 15 police, fire and emergency vehicles from Montclair and at least one surrounding town were called to the scene. 

In an attempt to release the driver from the vehicle, emergency personnel brought in generators for power tools to cut off the roof, front- and rear-windshield, and both doors on the driver’s side. Fire engines with large floodlights were used to light the scene.   

The driver, which appeared to be a young, African-American man, was finally pulled from the car and placed on a stretcher at about 9:15 p.m.

It is not know whether there was another occupant in the car. 

The small brook flows through a long, narrow piece of land scattered with large trees. The road has few streetlights, and is lined with estate-style homes. 

A woman who lives on Yantacaw Brook Road and asked not to be named said people are constantly speeding on the street. 

“We all say [an accident] was bound to happen,” said the woman. “This is used as a cut-through street and a lot of people are speeding down here at 11 o’clock at night and especially after school.”