A 32-year-old officer operating radar on a New Jersey street was killed early Thursday when a tractor-trailer ran off the road and rear-ended his unmarked police cruiser, officials say.

Waldwick police officer Christopher Goodell was sitting in an unmarked Chevrolet on the shoulder of Route 17 at Bergen Avenue at about 1:20 a.m. when his car was hit by the 18-wheel tractor-trailer, which was headed south on Route 17 and had run off the road, Bergen County prosecutors say.

The impact sent the vehicles careening through a retaining wall and near a house. Goodell's car sustained heavy damage, and the tractor-trailer had some damage as well. Investigators were checking to see if the house was impacted.

Goodell, a five-year veteran with the force, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Prosecutors say the truck driver, 28-year-old Ryon Cumberbatch, who was not injured, called 911 after the crash. He was later arrested on charges of second-degree vehicular homicide. 

Prosecutors say there was no evidence that Cumberbatch tried to brake before the crash and that it appears he drove directly into the police car, which did not have its lights on, without stopping or attempting to stop. 

Waldwick Police Chief Mark Messner said that Goodell was a Waldwick High School graduate who had served in the Marines for eight years and had recently gotten engaged.

Messner said Goodell was a dedicated member of the force who worked at the intersection often to make sure drivers went at safe speeds.

"He was an outstanding and proactive officer who loved his family, his fiancee, his job and his comrades, and he will be sorely missed," the chief said, choking back tears.

Cumberbatch was jailed on $25,000 bail and is next scheduled to appear in court July 21. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney. 

--Tracie Strahan contributed to this report

Six-year-old Henry loves visiting the helipad on Penns Landing where his father is a Skyforce10 pilot. But Henry’s genetic condition makes it hard for him to hear the roar of the helicopter and soon enough he may not be able to see it take off either.

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At least 60,000 people are affected by Usher Syndrome; a disease that results in hearing loss and vision impairment.

Pilot Phil Norton and his family became familiar with the condition when their son was diagnosed. Despite living without his sense of hearing and rapidly losing his vision, Henry and his family are working hard to ensure he has the life of a typical kid.

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Henry has cochlear implants so he can hear sounds, but he still communicates through sign language.

His vision is also deteriorating. He currently he has a 15-degree field of vision, which is comparable to looking through the opening of a straw. Most people see through a 180-degree field.

Henry is learning braille to prepare for when he loses his vision completely.

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“Kim and I, we’re dealing with it, but I think it’s harder for us right now than for him. I think he compensates real well," Phil said. “When we got the news about the vision loss, I still choke up when I talk about it."

His mother believes that research of the genetic condtion may help Henry regain his vision eventually.

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The Norton family is so devoted to supporting Henry that they created a foundation in his name -- Help Henry See and Hear.

The New Jersey non-profit helps individuals and families affected by Usher Syndrome, according to its website. They support research, provide information and offer social opportunities, as well as offer other assistance, for those who are deaf and blind due to Usher Syndrome.

The Nortons are hosting the foundation's 2nd annual fundraiser Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Flying W Airport and Resort in Medford, N.J.

Guests will be treated to live entertainment, bounce houses, swimming, raffle prizes, helicopter rides, a visit from the Phillie Phanatic and much more. The foundation is also taking donations through its website.

A staffer for a Pennsylvania congressman was arrested on his way into work this morning because he was carrying a gun in his bag.

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"It was a total accident," Ryan Shucard said. He works as a Press Secretary for Representative Tom Marino, who represents the commonwealth's 10th District.

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"We've been informed by Capitol Police that we have no reason to believe this is anything other than an accident," said Bill Tighe, Marino's chief of staff.

The pistol, a Smith and Wesson 9mm handgun, was discovered along with a magazine clip, by Capitol police when Shucard arrived at work and went through the routine x-ray inside the Cannon Office Building. Shucard is a Virginia resident and has a license to carry, according to Tighe, but the firearms laws in the District of Columbia are different.

Tighe described Shucard as a fantastic worker who was devastated by what happened. "He obviously regrets the situation," Tighe said.

Shucard was charged with a felony count of Carrying a Pistol Without a License. Rep. Marino made the decision to place him on unpaid leave for an undetermined amount of time. Tighe said Marino felt that public safety was the utmost concern. Marino's district is north of Harrisburg and covers parts of Scranton, Wilkes-Barres and Williamsport.

"People need to be responsible firearms owners and need to understand the laws," Tighe Said.

Rescue crews have suspended the search for a French tourist missing after taking a swim in the rough water off Island Beach State Park, New Jersey Friday morning.

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Nicholas Guilhote, 25, went into the water on the ocean side of the peninsula, which is just south of Seaside Park in Ocean County. He was reported missing shortly before noon.

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Coast Guard crews and local emergency responders were searching by boat and helicopter near beach 20 until around 9:15 p.m.

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Authorities said conditions were rough and Guilhote was swimming in an area where there are warning signs and no lifeguards.

The swimmer is from Lyon, France. He's here visiting relatives from both Pennsylvania and Canada.

A search this week of a property in western Pennsylvania came up empty in the latest effort to find 8-year-old Cherrie Mahan who disappeared in 1985.

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The Pennsylvania State Police and a team from the Mercyhurst University Archaeological Institute this week searched a property in Butler County.

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Police say the continued investigation and interviews led to the searches. They brought search dogs to the property and the Mercyhurst team excavated part of it.

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Cherrie Mahan was last seen by a motorist stepping off a school bus near her home in Cabot, about 25 miles northeast of Pittsburgh on Feb. 22, 1985.

Later that year, she was featured on the first "Have You Seen Me?" mailings by Advo Inc.

The whimsical, pop-up picnic – Dîner en Blanc – intends to bring a community together over a shared meal. But an error-filled registration process frustrated hundreds hoping to attend, created a divide among Philly foodies and spurred a group to create their own soiree – Diner en Noir.

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“I wanted it to change, so I decided to be the change I wanted to see,” said Chris Nowaczyk. The full-time cancer researcher founded Diner en Noir moments after spending 45 minutes trying to buy tickets for Dîner en Blanc (DEB) Thursday. 

DEB, which began in Paris more than 25 years ago, is a well-organized yet seemingly impromptu dinner party where diners dress only in white clothing and eat at tables topped with white cloths. The public outdoor location remains a secret until only minutes before the Aug. 21 meal begins. 

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This year, one ticket to DEB Philadelphia cost $68.50 and got the buyer two seats.

A presale opportunity was offered exclusively to about half of the 2,500 people who dined along JFK Boulevard last year. Those returning attendees also can sponsor a friend, who then was invited to buy two slots in a second presale round.

In a third and final phase of ticket sales, anyone who had added their name to a “waiting list” was invited via email to log on to DEB Philadelphia's site at 10:30 a.m. Thursday to try for the unfilled seats.

But thousands of people were greeted with an error message as they tried to purchase their seats -- aggravating Nowaczyk, who was also upset organizers did not disclose the number of remaining spots.

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“We filled to capacity as 10,000 people tried to register simultaneously,” Aymeric Pasquier and Sandy Safi, co-founders of Dîner en Blanc International, wrote in a Facebook message. “Consequently, our system became temporarily unavailable. Rather than posting a message informing you that we reached maximum capacity of guests, our server posted an ‘error message.’”

Yet Nowacyzk says this isn’t the first time DEB Philadelphia’s website malfunctioned. “Every year, it’s the same issue,” he said.

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Natanya DiBona, who voluntarily co-hosts the event with Kayli Moran, said her team is just as upset over the technical glitch, which has not occurred for DEBs elsewhere in the world as interest in our area grew faster than in other cities.

“Last year we were assured by International that this would not happen to us again,” DiBona said. “I’m in no way going to defend this software system. It is international’s and we were forced to use it.”

She and Moran personally reached out to 300 people by phone or email yesterday to address their complaints.

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And she insists the technology will be changed before registration begins next year.

Along with an upgraded system online, Nowaczyk wants more transparency from the organizers.

“They didn’t say there are 1,000 seats left and we sent out 10,000 emails,” Nowaczyk said.

DiBona, however, stands by the structure.

“It gives everyone the opportunity to log in and do it,” said DiBona, who started planning the event with her co-host last fall.

Diner en Noir will take a different approach by letting people know how many seats remain as they get purchased. "The process of getting signed up shouldn't end in tears or anger," Nowaczyk said.

DiBona welcomes another community-oriented, food-based event to Philadelphia, but says the frustration of those who feel “excluded” from the all-white affair – as Diner en Noir describes itself on its Facebook page – is unfounded.

“If it is a concert, or a sporting event, there is a limited amount of tickets and limited time [to buy],”she said.

Adding more seats isn't doable, as the space dictates capacity, she said.

Each year, DiBona and Moran work to find a public space that can accommodate more people than the year prior. The inaugural event in 2012 had 1,300 guests. The following year, 2,500 people took part. Next month, 3,500 people will dine at the surprise location.

“I do not want to compromise the experience for people by getting too large too quickly,” said DiBona, who along with nine other volunteers, spent thousands of hours over the past four months organizing the secretive celebration.

Nowacyzk partnered with 14 others to organize an alternative, which they plan to hold on the same night as DEB Philadelphia.

Despite the overlap, Nowaczyk says Diner en Noir is not meant as a protest.

“It should be flattering,” he said. Still in early stages, Diner en Noir will be part Night Market and part Dîner en Blanc, he said.

Ticket prices, which are not yet set, will cover operating costs and a donation for an organization that works with the hungry.

Participants can bring their own food, as they often do at DEB, or they can purchase food from a vendor. Tables and chairs will be provided; DEB guests bring their own.

“It will be more accessible for people,” Nowaczyk said.

He acknowledges that the time constraints make it difficult to guarantee Diner en Noir will occur Aug. 21, but says they have already taken steps to ensure it will occur before this winter.

“There were changes people wanted to make,” he said. “We intend to do what the people want.”

Contact Alison Burdo at 610.668.5635, alison.burdo@nbcuni.com or follow @NewsBurd on Twitter.

A 75-year-old pilot who landed his single-engine plane on a Long Island highway last week made another emergency landing on the same stretch of road Friday, police say.

No one was hurt when the yellow plane landed on Sunrise Highway near East Moriches around 1 p.m. The plane was moved to the side of the road.   

The pilot, Frank Fierro, said a burnt fuse caused the engine of his home-made plane to stall today and last week. 

The FAA inspected the plane after the previous highway landing and returned it to Fierro.

He was the only one on board, authorities said.

Fierro vowed to fly again, despite the wishes of his wife, who wants him to stop. 
 

Some kids spend their summer watching television; others spend their summer at the pool. Some are lucky enough to have a summer job. Niall McDowell and Mary Kate Kane are learning how to end religious and social segregation in Northern Ireland.

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McDowell and Kane are among three dozen teenagers participating in Ulster Project Delaware, a month long program that invites 18 teenagers from Northern Ireland to stay with 18 teenagers in Wilmington, Delaware. The goal of the project is to ease decades of tension between Catholics and Protestants stemming from political, religious and economic-related conflicts in Northern Ireland known as “The Troubles.”

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Growing up, McDowell has seen conflicts on the news and has friends who have witnessed collisions between Catholics and Protestants at events and parades. He finds the conflicts troubling.

“I understand people want to celebrate the history of [their] ancestors and carry on traditions but both sides of the community can very easily do this in a peaceful way!” he said.

Mary Kate Kane is an American teen hosting Anna Winter from Northern Ireland, who opened up to her about growing up with tension.

“One night Anna and I talked about the separations between Protestants and Catholic. While I was listening to her tell me that as a Protestant…there are certain streets that are Protestant only that Catholics would never go on, I was so taken back by what she was telling me. I never really understood how separated Protestants and Catholics are until the night we talked about it,” she said. “I go to a school that has many different religions within [it], but they are not even really given the chance to meet people of the other religion.”

McDowell agrees the separation is unhealthy.

“In my opinion people did not fight because of [their] religion,” he said. “I think it is more about areas and that it would [be] much easier if people didn't have an estate full of Catholics or an estate full of Protestants.”

The program has four Northern Irish leaders who each give a speech throughout the month. Often they detail the conflicts they’ve experienced growing up and try to teach the next generation the significance of tolerance.

“[The leaders] have shared what it was like to grow up in Northern Ireland when they were younger…” Kane said. “They have taught us to not show hatred but to show peace and understanding to one another.”

The Northern Irish teens fly home on July 26, but all 36 kids will be left with valuable messages.

“The project had shown me to understand and accept people for who they are,” Kane said, “no matter what religion or gender.”

McDowell will go home with a similar message.

“It’s hard to believe sometimes what is going on around you when the people who some think are different, are not,” McDowell said, “They’re the same as anyone!”

“We need to mix because it's an easy way of creating peace and friendships!” he said.

Rachel Stanton, 22, was shocked when she returned to the Bristol train station from work Thursday night and saw that her car was not where she'd left it.

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"My sister and I got off the train and walked to the parking spot and the car was gone," she said.

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"It was quite shocking to see all of this broken glass, and charred pieces of metal and rubber, but no car. It looked like something blew up in that spot."

Police and fire officials in Bristol Township, Bucks County, Pa. say several cars were on fire at a SEPTA regional rail station Thursday morning. The car fires reportedly started in a Jeep parked on the northbound side of the station and spread to other vehicles.

Stanton's maroon '95 Toyota Tercel was one of four cars damaged in the fire.

The recent Temple grad had the car for seven years and used it for her clothing business, Fruitstrology.

"It's just a complete shame. I ran my business out of that car. I'd planned on keeping it for years."

Stanton says she had to call 911 to find out that her car had been towed away because no one contacted her to let her know what had happened.

Fire officials say they're investigating the cause.

In the meantime, Stanton says she's adjusting to commuting without a car.

"I'm going to start searching on Monday for a new car. I'll probably have to get my mom to take me to the train," she said. "Getting around is probably not going to be easy for a while."

SEPTA's Trenton regional rail train line operates through this station.

Stanton says she and her parents will be going to the lot to retrieve whatever's left of her belongings.

The first American identified as a victim of the Malaysia jet crash has ties to South Jersey.

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Quinn Lucas Schansman, 19, has a great aunt who lives in Woodbury, Gloucester County, New Jersey.

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His grandfather, Ronald Schansman, happened to be visiting her when he got a call from his son about the crash.

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"You go through all the phases of mourning," Ronald Schansman said on Friday. "At the moment, it's just mourning. And of course anger."

Flight MH17 was carrying 298 passengers and crew when it was shot down over Ukraine on Thursday.

Schansman said his grandson was studying International Business at the University of Amsterdam and was flying to meet his father, stepmother, younger brother and sister for a family vacation.

Quinn was born in New York where his father worked for the Dutch Embassy. When he was five, he moved with his father to Holland.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will let drivers put the pedal to the medal next week, when they raise the speed limit on a 100-miles stretch of the toll road.

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The speed limit will be raised from 65 mph to 70 mph on the Turnpike between the Blue Mountain Interchange (exit 201) and the Morgantown Interchange (exit 298) starting on Wednesday, July 23.

"Our studies have shown that the design of our system in this area can safely accommodate the higher speed limit," said Pa. Turnpike CEO Mark Compton.

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State Police are reminding motorists to abide by the current speed limit and soon-to-be raised limit.

"Strict enforcement of the new 70 mph speed limit will be observed by our troopers," said Lt. Edward Murphy.

The Turnpike Commission is also reminding drivers to drive safely and sensibly.


 

Two people are dead after a fire broke out in an Atlantic City home on Friday afternoon.

SkyForce10 was over the burning home on Atlantic and South Boston Avenues where a two-alarm fire killed a woman and another person, according to Atlantic City Fire Chief Dennis Brooks.

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The woman was removed from the home in critical condition and pronounced dead at a local hospital a short time later.

The second victim was found dead inside the four-story home.

The fire has been extinguished on the first and second floors of the house, but continued to move through the third and fourth floors for some time.

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An investigation into what caused the fire is underway.

This story is developing. Check back for more.

The Delaware County SPCA is giving "Lovey" love after she was stabbed and left for dead in Chester.

SPCA officials are looking for the person who brutally stabbed the young black and white Pit Bull Terrier and left her for dead on the property of Delcora, a water treatment facility.

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"Lovey," named by the SPCA for her loving demeanor, was spotted lying in tall grass on the property for several days before she was rescued and taken in for treatment.

She was stabbed with a sharp object and had wounds all over her body, according to the SPCA.

"It's hard to believe anyone could do this, let alone to a dog that's so sweet," said SPCA Director of Community Relations Justina Calgiano.

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Lovey is in stable condition and recovering at the SPCA.

If you want to donate to help defer the cost of Lovey's care, head to the SPCA website.

Anyone with information on the violent abuse is urged to call the Delco SPCA Humane Society at 610-566-1379 ext. 214.