Former NJ Police Chief Dies In Upstate NY Snowmobile Accident

A retired police chief from New Jersey is dead and another man hospitalized after a snowmobile accident on Oxbow Lake in Hamilton County.

Sheriff's deputies say 59-year-old James S. Paganessi of Flemington was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:04 a.m. Saturday. Deputies say 55-year-old Thomas Vollers of Far Hills was seriously injured during the accident in Lake Pleasant, about 65 miles northwest of Albany in the Adirondacks.

Paganessi was police chief in Readington Township for nine years, retiring in 2009.

Vollers was listed in critical condition at Albany Medical Center Wednesday afternoon.

Deputies say speed was a factor in the accident, and investigators are awaiting toxicology reports.

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