By NANCY RUMP

UPPER TOWNSHIP – A State Police trooper making a U-turn on Route 50 in an attempt to stop a passing speeder was instead struck by oncoming traffic Monday night.
According to State Police in Trenton, Trooper Joseph Mercurio, 25, of the Woodbine barracks, was driving north on Route 50 in Seaville at 7:30 p.m. when he noticed a car pass him in the opposite lane at a high rate of speed. He pulled to the right shoulder of the road near the intersection with Kruk Terrace and was about to turn around when a second marked troop car approached in the southbound lane, closing in on the same speeder.
Mercurio waited for the second troop car to pass and attempted to turn around to assist the other trooper, but pulled into the path of a 2008 Ford Focus that had closed the distance behind him while he waited on the shoulder of the road, police said. The front end of the Focus struck the driver’s side of Mercurio’s car.
The driver of the Focus was identified by police as John Kriger, 29, of Woodbine. Complaining of chest pain at the scene, he was transported to Shore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point by the Upper Township Rescue Squad. Kriger’s 4-year-old daughter, Breanna Kriger, a passenger in her father’s vehicle, was not injured. Police said she was properly secured in a child seat in the rear of the car.
Mercurio was transported to Cape Regional Medical Center in Court House for minor head and neck pain. Both he and Kriger were treated and later released, police said.
State Police spokesman Sgt. Stephen Jones said neither troop car was using lights or sirens at the time of the accident.
Two years ago, Trooper Robert Higbee of the Woodbine barracks was involved in a fatal collision with a minivan at the intersection of Stagecoach and Tuckahoe roads, also in the township. Two sisters, Christina and Jacqueline Becker, died when Higbee’s troop car struck them broadside. State Police said Higbee failed to stop at a stop sign while closing the gap between himself and a speeding vehicle. He was later charged with two counts of vehicular homicide by the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office and is expected to stand trial in April.
Higbee was also not using lights or sirens at the time of the crash.
Jones said where public safety allows, troopers are trained to close the distance between their troop car and a suspect’s vehicle prior to activating their lights and sirens.
“It’s a matter of safety and it reduces problems we sometimes face in getting a driver stopped,” he said.
In instances where lights and sirens would be activated prior to closing the gap, Jones said troopers run the risk of a suspect attempting to outrun, flee or elude them.
Asked about the relationship between the Higbee crash and Monday’s involving another trooper from the Woodbine barracks, Jones said the State Police view every accident as unique.
“The circumstances surrounding this one are completely different from any other crash,” he said.
However, Jones said that every accident involving a troop car is reviewed by an accident review board and that the findings of that board are passed on to determine if there is a larger picture that needs to be addressed by the training bureau of the State Police.
“Apprehension of violators is one of our duties and it must be done in a responsible and safe manner,” he said. “Troopers must work within reasonable parameters to assure public safety.”
In reviewing the crash, he said, the board will determine whether the accident was preventable or not preventable.
“If it is deemed preventable, there are a host of outcomes that could result,” Jones said, “from written or verbal counseling to formal driving training…or even suspension.”
A complete investigation of the incident is currently underway, he said, and began at the scene with crime scene detectives and fatal accident investigators, as is standard for troop car accidents with any injuries.
In the meantime, police said, Mercurio is not suspended and will return to work.