Truck driver hits 12 cars, kills one person in Elizabeth

The driver of a tractor trailer cab hit about a dozen cars and smashed through a police barricade in Elizabeth early Saturday morning before crashing into a vehicle head on killing one of the occupants.

The driver, Danny Clyde Burnam, 57, faces multiple criminal charges, Acting Union County Prosecutor Grace Park said in a news release Saturday.

Burnam was driving the truck in the area of First Street and Elizabeth Avenue around midnight when he hit the first vehicle, Park said. The driver of the other vehicle tried to get him to stop, but Burnam took off driving erratically down Elizabeth Avenue, according to the release. Just moments later, near the intersection of North Broad Street, an off-duty Union County Police Department officer saw Burnam driving erratically and also attempted to stop him. During this attempt, the officer fired a single round from his service weapon, Park said.

Burnam sped down North Broad Street, striking multiple parked and moving vehicles, and then crashed through a barricade that Elizabeth Police Department officers set up at Parker Road. Two Elizabeth police officers fired their service weapons at Burnam striking him, but he continued driving, Park said.

About a half-mile north of the barricade, near the intersection of North Avenue and Newark Avenue, Burnam collided head-on with another vehicle killing an adult passenger instantly and injuring two other occupants of the vehicle, Park said.

A picture taken of the truck shows it crashed into a building. Burnam was arrested and hospitalized for non-life threatening injuries, Park said.

Officials have not disclosed the name of the victim pending notification of next of kin. The other two occupants of the vehicle were taken to a hospital for treatment, she said.

Burnam is also known as Danny Clyde Williams and has known addresses in Colorado and California, Park said.

BUrnham was charged with second-degree aggravated manslaughter, second-degree vehicular homicide, and second-degree reckless Aggravated Assault. Bail was set at $2 million