JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Authorities say a car has plunged into the water near Liberty State Park, killing a 22-year-old New Jersey man out celebrating New Year's.
The crash was reported at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Morris Canal in Jersey City near the park overlooking the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
The New York Police Department's dive team found the body of Mark Pych (pyk) a short time later. His family told The Jersey Journal that the recent Rutgers-Newark graduate had planned to meet his friends at a nearby restaurant.
Jersey City police and fire spokesman Bob McHugh told the newspaper that Pych's car drove through barricades blocking the road. A crane was used to lift the car from the water.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.