A juvenile was killed Saturday and a 66-year-old woman from Roselle Park was seriously injured after a Chrysler SUV backed into them in the parking lot used by Screamin' Hill brewery and Bullock Farms in Upper Freehold.
The crash happened shortly after 11:07 a.m. on Emleys Hills Road, and the New Jersey State Police said the SUV was reversing out of a parking space when it struck both victims. No other injuries were reported.
That made a routine parking maneuver into a fatal collision at a place built for visitors. Bullock dates to 1860 and bills itself as the state's first farm brewery, while the seven-generation farm grows crops including pumpkins and Christmas trees and hosts regular fall events with hayrides, corn mazes and a kids play area.
The farm and brewery posted after the crash that they were closed because of an emergency in their lot and would stay closed on Sunday. The cause remains under investigation, and investigators have not said what led the Chrysler SUV to back into the two pedestrians in a lot open to the public.
For now, the scene is defined by the gap between what happened and what is still unknown. One child is dead, one woman is in the hospital, and the question of how a reversing SUV turned a busy farm parking lot into a fatal crash is still unanswered.
