Accident with truck kills woman in Cherry Hill

A woman was killed after a dump truck carrying sand flipped over and landed on the SUV she was driving in Cherry Hill shortly before noon Thursday, police said.

The woman, whose identity was withheld pending notification of family, died at the scene of the accident at Haddonfield-Berlin Road and Morris Drive, said Lt. Bill Kushina, a township police spokesman.

Two Good Samaritans stopped and frantically shoveled sand off the vehicle, a Lexus RX 350 with New Jersey license plates, according to two doctor's office employees who witnessed the aftermath.

"They got shovels from somewhere, and they were screaming to see if anybody [in the SUV] was responding," said Yvonne Dalton-Kay, a certified medical assistant at Virtua Family Medicine of Cherry Hill, located at the intersection.

Authorities did not release the name of the truck driver, who they said was not injured. The witnesses said he had crawled out of his vehicle.

"He was hysterical," Dalton-Kay said.

"He kept saying, 'I killed her,' " said Ariell Paulus, another medical assistant.

Kushina said the dump truck, which was traveling northwest on Haddonfield-Berlin, swerved to avoid a third vehicle that had pulled out of Morris in an attempt to turn left onto Haddonfield-Berlin.

Authorities said they had not determined which of the surviving drivers had the right-of-way.

The evasive maneuver caused the truck to flip onto its driver's side and land on the Lexus, trapping the SUV's operator.

"The [SUV] was completely filled with sand," Dalton-Kay said.

She had hoped to perform CPR, but the woman was trapped under the truck, Dalton-Kay said.

The dump truck, which also spilled sand over the roadway, was operated by MJF Materials of Berlin, according to police. A spokesman for the firm could not be reached Thursday.

Hours after the accident, the SUV - covered by a blue tarp - sat on a tow truck. The driver's side and part of its roof were smashed in.

Haddonfield-Berlin Road was closed in both directions from Browning Lane to Evesham Road for several hours. The accident remains under investigation.

Contact staff writer Darran Simon at 856-779-3829, dsimon@phillynews.com, or @darransimon on Twitter.