State Police say a 24-year-old New Jersey state trooper is dead after the troop car he was driving early Saturday morning struck a deer, ran off the side of the road and hit a tree.
State Police spokesman Capt. Stephen Jones says the trooper has not yet been identified. A second trooper who was in the car is recovering at a hospital. Twenty-nine-year-old Trooper Gene Hong suffered lacerations and a neck injury. The crash happened at 12:48 a.m.
State Police say the two troopers were patrolling eastbound on Interstate 195 in Monmouth County when their Ford Crown Victoria struck the deer. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.
Jones says the deceased trooper will be identified later Saturday.