Morris Township official injured in Morristown crosswalk asks police to find second vehicle

Morris Township Committeeman Jeff Grayzel
Morris Township Committeeman Jeff Grayzel
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Morristown generally welcomes Democrats more warmly than neighboring Morris Township.

But you might get an argument about that from Jeff Grayzel, the sole Democrat on the Township Committee.  He spent an evening in Morristown Medical Center last month after a Honda Ridgeline SUV struck him in a crosswalk near the Morristown Green.

jeffgrayzel
Jeff Grayzel, pictured in 2012. File photo by Scott Schlosser.

Jeff said he was thrown three feet in the air, landing hard on his left shoulder, side and thigh and cracking his eyeglasses.

“I have heard about several pedestrian fatalities in New York City recently [and] as I was lying on the ground I felt very scared of what had just happened to me,” said Jeff, 50, whose identity was not disclosed in the initial police account of the Feb. 24, 2014, accident.

“I am so very thankful that I did not break any bones and was able to walk, albeit slowly, the next day. The results could have been so much worse.”

Angel Vega, 44, of Morristown, was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian. The driver, who stopped to provide assistance after the accident, told police he momentarily had taken his eyes off the road, according to a Morristown police spokesman.

Jeff had been crossing Washington Street near Schuyler Place at 7:43 pm. He is asking police to search for a second, westbound vehicle that also failed to yield to him in the crosswalk.

“Because that second vehicle did not stop for me as I was crossing the street, I was a sitting duck for the car that ultimately hit me,” Jeff said in a statement.

Jeff said he had looked both ways before entering the crosswalk, and saw a vehicle a half-block away heading towards the Green. To his right, he saw another vehicle, traveling west from the Green. He had plenty of time to cross, he said. But when the westbound vehicle kept going, he had to wait in the middle of the street. That’s when the SUV hit him.

“Although both vehicles should have stopped for me, all I really needed was for just one of the two vehicles to stop for me to be safe. But neither did. Both of them did not yield to the pedestrian in the sidewalk. So the pedestrian — me — paid the price.”

After the accident, Jeff spent nearly three hours at Morristown Medical Center with his head fully immobilized for a CT scan. While the test found no broken bones, he said, he still has bruises and “residual pain” in his back and his knee.

Morristown accident scene where Morris Township Committeeman Jeff Grayzel was struck last month. Photo by Berit Ollestad
Morristown accident scene where Morris Township Committeeman Jeff Grayzel was struck last month. Photo by Berit Ollestad

 

 

3 COMMENTS

  1. Jeff-my comments were not intended to be derogatory. The article clearly states that you “saw a vehicle a half-block away heading towards the Green. To his right he saw another vehicle, traveling west from the Green.” You knowingly stepped into traffic in both directions. There are intersections a short distance in both directions from the makeshift crosswalk at Schuyler-each featuring traditional traffic signals which have worked reliably for decades. I drive on Washington Street numerous times daily and observe the problems there. I acknowledge that both drivers and pedestrians are at fault, however, the law indicates that pedestrians are not permitted to enter the crosswalk into oncoming traffic. The 2010 law that made jaywalking legal is working about as well as Obamacare-just because it was enacted into law does not make it sensible.

  2. The crosswalk is-what-20 feet away? You are an idiot to step into traffic (read the law by the way). Pedestrian accidents have increased substantially since the injurious law was passed that established make shift crosswalks. What was wrong with “look both ways, cross at the crosswalk”? Remember jaywalking? Now it is jaydriving apparently. Not surprised at the lack of common sense-a politician.

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