NJ cop killed in double-fatal intersection crash in Burlington

SPRINGFIELD (Burlington) — A state correctional police officer who was also a mother of two was killed early Monday morning in a crash on Route 68 that also killed another driver.

The officer, Chelsea Woods, 26, of Browns Mills, was driving her Ford F350 pick-up truck southbound on Route 68 in Springfield. She collided with a Ford F150 being driven east on Route 537 by Rogaciano Zecua-Zamora, 53, of Wrightstown.

The impact sent the F150 off the road and into a tree while Woods was ejected from her flipped-over F350, according to State Police Sgt. Lawrence Peele.

The intersection has a traffic light but authorities have not said which driver had the right of way. Peele said the cause of the crash remained under investigation.

Alicia Paez-Capulin, 45, a passenger in the F150, was hospitalized with serious injuries.

Route 68, the main road into the Fort Dix entrance of the Joint Base McGurie-Dix-Lakehurst, was closed for five hours, according to Peele.

The state Department of Corrections on its Facebook page identified Woods as a correctional police officer. Her union, NJPBA Local 105, said on its Facebook page that she was driving home after working at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.

"We are grateful for her service and together with her friends and family, mourn the loss of a dedicated colleague," the union said.

A GoFundMe page created to assist her family said she was married with two children.

Woods is the third correctional police officer killed in a car crash in 2019. Three other officers have died from heart attacks this year,PBA president Patrick Colligan told New Jersey 101.5.

"Our brothers and sisters in PBA 105 have had a tragic year and buried too many of their members. They work the most difficult beat in the nation. Keep them in your thoughts at this difficult time of year," Colligan said Tuesday.

Officer Sean Brown, 34, of Barnegat, died July 20 in a head-on crash on Route 72 in the Pinelands. He was an 11-year veteran at the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility in Crosswicks.

Omar Martin, 49, was killed in a crash in Newark in August after being hit by a vehicle involved in a police chase that started in Hillside. He was not involved in the pursuit and was sitting inside his Ford Mustang near the intersection of Aldine Street and Bragaw Avenue in the Weequahic section when Martin's Nissan Altima struck the Mustang and shoved it into a utility pole.

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