Crime & Safety

Driver Distracted By Roseland Man Walking Pig, Hits Pedestrian: Police

A New Jersey suburb saw its first, pig-related car accident, police say.

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Roseland saw its first, pig-related car accident on Tuesday morning, according to the town’s police chief.

Roseland Police Chief Richard McDonough told Patch that the unusual incident took place around 6:50 a.m. when a driver apparently got distracted by a man walking his pet pig on Harrison Avenue and struck a pedestrian.

“[The driver] was going to pull over and ask the guy a question about the pig, but didn’t see the pedestrian,” McDonough said.

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He then struck the pedestrian, who suffered a non-life-threatening neck and head injury, McDonough said.

Emergency responders transported the injured pedestrian to Morristown Medical Center for treatment. The driver stayed on the scene and has not been charged with a crime, McDonough said Wednesday.

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“Is it unusual in Roseland for a person to be walking a pig?” McDonough queried. “This gentleman has been doing it for the past year and half at the same location, and we’ve never had any accidents.”

McDonough recommended that motorists who find themselves in a similar situation should “try not to be distracted” if they see something similarly out-of-the-ordinary and keep in mind that they’re driving a potentially hazardous hunk of metal.

But McDonough added that he understood why the driver may have lost focus after seeing a farm animal on the streets of Roseland.

“This is Essex County,” he said. “You really don’t see that every day. It’s unique. But maybe people will realize that there’s a homeowner who walks his pig in the area and won’t be shocked if they see it again.”

Send Essex County news tips and corrections to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Editor’s note: Pictured animal is not the pig in the above story, Flickr Commons


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