O.B. man, 50, dies in crash with cop car
BY MARLENE CANTY
Staff Writer

OLD BRIDGE - A limousine driver died Monday after his vehicle was struck head-on by a police cruiser that had spun out of control and into oncoming traffic.

Anatoliy Verbitski, a 50-year-old father of two, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred at 2:40 a.m. Monday on Cottrell Road, according to Assistant Middlesex County Prosecutor Nicholas Sewitch.

The accident took place just north of Phillips Drive, about a block away from Verbitski's home on Chamberlain Court and a quarter-mile from the Old Bridge Police Department.

Police officer Brandon Ward, 26, a two-year veteran of the Old Bridge force, was halfway through his shift and returning to the road after completing paperwork when he turned onto a side road. At that point, his 2003 Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser suddenly struck two of several deer he encountered in the road. Ward then lost control of the vehicle and plunged into Verbitski's 1999 Lincoln Town Car.

According to Sewitch, both vehicles sustained significant damage and both drivers had to be extricated from their vehicles. The road has a posted speed limit of 45 mph, and police were unable to verify how fast either vehicle was moving.

Verbitski, who lived with his wife and two daughters in the Maiden Wood development, may have been driving his limousine home after work when the accident occurred, according to neighbors.

Sewitch said Ward voluntarily offered to have a blood sample taken for testing. But authorities do not suspect Ward was under the influence of any substances. The measure is routine in fatality cases, police said.

Ward was airlifted to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick with severe leg injuries. According to Sewitch, those injuries are not considered to be life-threatening and he is currently in stable condition.

Ward, who graduated from the police academy in 2004, is the son of Stella Ward, an assistant municipal clerk.

According to Greta Koutas, a neighbor of the Verbitskis, Anatoliy was a cordial neighbor who always had a smile and a pleasant word of greeting.

"I can still see him in my mind sitting on the porch with that encouraging smile. He's certainly going to be missed," Koutas said of her neighbor of five years.

The Russian immigrant and his wife, Laura, who is a comptroller at Wagner Electric Inc., and daughters Irene and Gilina moved to Old Bridge from Brooklyn, N.Y.

The accident is being jointly investigated by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Fatal Accident Unit and the Old Bridge police, Sewitch said.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact county investigator Ken Mazza at (732) 745-3315 or Old Bridge Detective Richard Tulko at (732) 679-3400.