NJ teen killed after illegal turn sparks horrific crash with mail truck

🚨18-year-old passenger killed in Route 130 crash after illegal left turn in Hamilton

🚨Teens were returning from performing act of kindness

🚨The driver is still in critical condition as of Monday

HAMILTON (Mercer) — An 18-year-old Lakewood teen returning from doing a good deed on Sunday morning was killed when the driver of his car made an illegal turn and was hit by a mail truck on Route 130.

Mordechai Sokol was driving south in his Mazda CX3 at 4 a.m. when he decided to make a left turn from the right lane near the Hamilton Marketplace shopping center.

To turn left, he would have had to cross over two more lanes on his side of the road. In doing so, he was struck by a postal truck that was traveling in the center lane on the same side of the highway. The crash impact shoved both vehicles onto the northbound side.

The passenger in the Mazda, Eliyahu Schepansky, 18, Lakewood, died at the crash scene. Sokol, meanwhile, was taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton and remained hospitalized Monday morning, according to The Lakewood Scoop.

The driver of the Postal Service truck was taken to RWJ University Hospital in Hamilton.

To turn left legally at the intersection, drivers must use a jug handle.

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Lakewood teens were performing community service

The Scoop reports that Schepensky and Sokol had been performing a kindness by dropping someone off at an airport. They were traveling to perform a second errand at the time of the crash.

Hamilton police asked any witnesses to call them at 609-581-4000.

It was the sixth fatal crash in Mercer County this year and the second in Hamilton, according to State Police records.

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