Drunk driver puts 3 in hospital after causing 5 crashes

Three people were hospitalized on Friday night after a 22-year-old local man, allegedly driving drunk, crashed into five cars on Bayard Lane near Nassau Street, police said.

Moises Ortiz, of Lawrenceville, allegedly first drove his Ford Explorer into a Ford Thunderbird driven by a 77-year-old man, Borough police Lt. Robert Currier said.

Ortiz then apparently drove over the curb and hit a second vehicle, a Volvo driven by a 35-year-old woman, causing it to careen into a third vehicle, a Kia Soul driven by a 19-year-old woman, Currier said.

The Explorer next drove off the road, running over several signs and striking a tree. Ortiz then proceeded to back up and strike the tree a second time, Currier said.

Ortiz then allegedly hit a fourth car, a GMC Jimmy driven by a 19-year-old man. Then Ortiz hit a fifth car, a Toyota Corolla, driven by a 49-year-old man. Ortiz next backed up again and drove into a traffic signal post, Currier said.

He backed up again and finally drove into a light post, the “final resting position” where he was arrested by police, Currier said.

The incident, which started at 8:02 p.m., was over in less than a minute. The crashes occurred on Bayard Lane next to the Princeton Battle Monument and Borough police headquarters — so close that officers at the station heard the accident as it happened.

Two drivers — the 49-year-old man and 77-year-old man — were transported to the University Medical Center at Princeton with non-life-threatening injuries. Ortiz was also transported to the hospital.

Ortiz and the 77-year-old man were subsequently treated and released. Although the 49-year-old man was transported to the hospital, police said, UMCP nursing supervisor Carolyn Schlesier said he was not admitted.

Two other drivers were also injured but declined treatment at the scene.

The crashes left Bayard Lane littered with broken glass, smashed cars and scattered car parts. On Nassau Street, fire police manned flares and directed traffic around Bayard Lane.

Joe Barrett ’14 was jogging on Bayard Lane when the crashes began ahead of him.

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“I ran after the car that was crashing into people, yelling at it to stop,” Barrett said. He added that he watched as the Explorer finally crashed into a light post and saw the driver get out.

“The guy got out of the car ... then just kind of sat down on the curb [and] collapsed next to the car,” Barrett recalled.

Barrett said the whole incident was “pretty scary to watch.”

“I was just kind of shocked and terrified. I mean, it was happening very close and obviously he just repeated hitting cars,” he said.

A passenger in one of those cars said at the scene that the driver of the Explorer “would stop and then gun it, stop and then gun it.”

“He just hit everything he could find,” she said.

Most of the vehicles involved suffered “very extensive damages,” Currier said. Only two cars involved could be driven away from the scene, and one drove only to the nearby Borough Hall parking lot.

Ortiz was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, leaving the scene of an accident with injuries and other traffic violations including unlicensed driving. As far as police know, Ortiz has never held a driver’s license.

Currier said that a six-vehicle accident hasn’t happened in Princeton in recent memory.

“I don’t remember an accident involving this many vehicles in at least 10 years,” Currier said.