The Whitehouse Rescue Squad assisted the Branchburg Rescue Squad and the Branchburg-Whitehouse Partnership at the Kindercare Daycare facility off Raritan Valley Community College Drive in Branchburg, when a vehicle lost control and veered into the playground area. Multiple ambulances, Northstar medevac, Somerset Medical Centers EMS & Paramedics and Hunterdon Medical Center's Paramedics also responded.

The follow article was taken from the Courier News

By BRANDON LAUSCH • STAFF WRITERS • August 27, 2008

BRANCHBURG —A Branchburg woman who, along with her husband, was touring a township day care center, lost control of her car Wednesday as she was parking and veered into a fenced playground, injuring three children and one adult, police said.

A 2001 Nissan Maxima, driven by 40-year-old Trupti A. Gaonkar, tore through the fence shortly after noon at the KinderCare Learning Center on 212 Raritan Valley College Drive in the township's North Branch section, police said.

Police said Gaonkar was parking the car in the facility's lot when she lost control of the vehicle — perhaps hitting the accelerator instead of the brake — and jumped a curb into the playground as two employees watched over about 30 children.

After crashing through the white fence, the car slammed into a picnic table where two adult employees were sitting and three children were playing, Branchburg police Lt. William Halderman said.

In the immediate aftermath of the crash, police said Gaonkar's husband, 37-year-old Krishna Agasthya, and KinderCare workers instructed Gaonkar to back the car off a 7-year-old girl involved in the wreck.

The girl was flown to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick as a precaution for possible spinal injuries, police said. Halderman said the girl was able to move her arms and legs before she was airlifted to the hospital.

Another 6-year-old girl was also hospitalized for head and ankle injuries, police said, while a third girl of the same age was treated at the scene for a scraped knee.

The injured children's names were not released because they are minors.

One worker sitting at the table, Kimberly Thomas, 35, of Bridgewater was transported to Somerset Medical Center with hip and leg injuries, as well as possible internal damage, police said. A hospital spokeswoman said Thomas was not admitted. The second employee, Melanie Martin, 24, of Flemington was not injured, police said.

Gaonkar and Agasthya did not appear to be injured as they talked to investigators. Gaonkar was charged with careless driving, police said. Police said they believed the couple were wearing seat belts.

Halderman said Gaonkar and Agasthya were at KinderCare to take advantage of a free enrollment day, where they could drop their child off for some time and also tour the facility. They were coming back to pick up their child, who was inside the center, and to chat with staff members when the accident happened, Halderman said.

Instead, the couple spent their afternoon explaining what happened to police. A message left at their home yesterday was not returned. A KinderCare employee said no one at the facility would comment.

As authorities investigated yesterday, the sedan could be seen resting atop the mangled picnic table, which was shaded from the sun by a striped awning. Debris from the wreck partially covered chalk artwork scribbled on the playground's pavement, as well as a nearby hopscotch course.

Although Halderman said the incident "was certainly disastrous enough,'' he said the damage could have been worse if the car had headed straight into an area where more children were playing.

Instead, he said the car veered right, away from that area, after it hit a concrete post.

Photos by ED PAGLIARINI / MyCentralJersey and BRANDON LAUSCH/ MyCentralJersey

Photos by ED PAGLIARINI / MyCentralJersey and BRANDON LAUSCH/ MyCentralJersey

Photos by ED PAGLIARINI / MyCentralJersey and BRANDON LAUSCH/ MyCentralJersey

Photos by ED PAGLIARINI / MyCentralJersey and BRANDON LAUSCH/ MyCentralJersey

Photos by ED PAGLIARINI / MyCentralJersey and BRANDON LAUSCH/ MyCentralJersey

Photos by ED PAGLIARINI / MyCentralJersey and BRANDON LAUSCH/ MyCentralJersey

Photos by ED PAGLIARINI / MyCentralJersey and BRANDON LAUSCH/ MyCentralJersey