Crime & Safety

Ambulance Worker Dead, Three Others Injured in Newark Crash

Elizabeth man charged in Monday morning incident.

[Updated: 9:50 p.m. Monday]

An ambulance attendant is dead following a multi-vehicle crash Monday in Newark that left three others injured, authorities said.

Keith Chipepo, 30, of Montclair, was killed when a Chrysler Pacifica, driven by James A. Sterling, 29, of Elizabeth, collided with the private ambulance Chipepo was riding in around 11:15 a.m. at South Orange Avenue and South 9th Street, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said.

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Circumstances surrounding the collision, which also involved a food truck and a county transportation bus, are under investigation. New Jersey State Police were also on scene though the agency's involvement is not clear.

Sterling was charged eluding, aggravated assault, aggravated manslaughter, driving with a suspended license, causing death and causing bodily injury while suspended.

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He appeared before Superior Court Judge Michael A. Petrolle and bail was set at $300,000.

Chipepo was transported to University Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The three others who were injured - the driver of the ambulance identified as a 26-year-old from West Orange; a patient, a 57-year-old woman; and a 34-year-old Bloomfield man who was driving the food truck - remain hospitalized. The driver of the county bus declined treatment.

A state police spokesperson reached Monday afternoon had no information about the incident.

Later in the day Monday in Newark, three police officers were injured when their cruisers collided while responding to a fatal shooting Monday at South 19th Street and Springfield Avenue, NJ.com reported. The extent of the officers' injuries was unknown.

Joel Evans, 31, of Newark, was shot multiple times at that location. The incident was ruled a homicide by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.

Anyone with information on the shooting may call the prosecutor's office tips line at (877) 847-7432.


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