E. Brunswick fire chief’s crash kills 2 — prosecutor says cops didn’t tell him (quickly)

County prosecutors are criticizing East Brunswick police — saying they weren't told in a timely way about a crash involving an East Brunswick fire department emergency vehicle that killed a South River couple on Sunday.

The fire chief, Andrew Drozdowski, was at the wheel, a person who picked up the phone at East Brunswick Fire Department District No. 1 told New Jersey 101.5. She declined to give her name.

The crash occurred on Old Bridge Turnpike in the area of Gunia Street in East Brunswick at 7:30 p.m., and the couple was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey

Carey did not disclose details about the crash or the identity of the couple, pending notification of family.

Carey said in a statement that that "mandatory timely notification of the event was not made by the East Brunswick Police Department to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, which is now examining the circumstances surrounding the crash."

He didn't say whether East Brunswick police contacted the prosecutor's office at all, or if so, how much time passed before it did.

The statement from his office did not address the policy under which the prosecutor's pffice should be notified. A spokesman for the state Attorney General's office referred the question to the Prosecutor's Office.

The person at the fire department said the prosecutor's office's statement was "misguided."

"From what I understand he's the one who called the accident in so that's on the police. We have no knowledge of why that statement was put out," the woman said.

She said that Drozdowski, who is a volunteer, was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

The prosceutor's office and East Brunswick Police did not immediately return messages about the incident.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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