Witness Helps Free Two Women Hanging Upside Down in Overturned Vehicle

After a vehicle overturned on Fischer Boulevard early Tuesday morning leaving the occupants suspended upside down, a passerby came to their aid and helped free them, police said.

The witness, who Toms River Chief Michael Mastronardy declined to name, saw the overturned Volkswagen near Boulevard after 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, and helped get the driver and passenger down.

The driver, Alyssa Canonica, and her passenger, Megan Bayramoff, were transported to for minor injuries, said Mastronardy.

“The driver and her passenger Megan Bayramoff where suspended upside down in their safety restraints and where cut down by a witness who stopped to render assistance,” he said.

Canonica, 19, of Vaughan Avenue, was driving a 2000 Volkswagen south on Fischer Boulevard on Tuesday, when her vehicle overturned after striking a trailer that was parked in the right lane near Cattus Island Boulevard, police said.

Mastronardy said the trailer had its flasher lights on while it was parked in the right hand lane of Fischer, to unload a piece of construction equipment. Southbound at that point, Fischer is two lanes plus a shared turning lane on the major roadway, also known as the Route 549 extension, with no stopping or standing and no streetside parking permitted.

“Ms. Canonica reported, when she realized the trailer wasn’t moving she attempted evasive action but her vehicle rode up the ramp, turned clockwise, then overturned,” Mastronardy said in an email.

At that point the driver and her passenger were upside down before a witness and arrived to the scene.

The driver of the trailer truck was cited by Officer David Bartoshek who issued a summons for improper unloading.