Police car used to halt runaway car on Ryders BY JESSICA SMITH Staff Writer A Milltown police officer is credited with preventing injuries or worse when he managed to stop an out-of-control, driverless vehicle from careening into oncoming traffic on Ryders Lane in East Brunswick. Milltown officer Eric Geipel positioned his patrol car in front of the vehicle to stop it after its driver had gotten out following an initial accident Oct. 10. The driver had exited the 1998 Mercury Mystique but inadvertently left it in drive after an accident at the intersection of Ryders and Tices lanes in East Brunswick around 2:40 p.m. The car rolled away in the northbound direction, picking up speed down a hill. As it was headed toward oncoming traffic in the southbound lane, Geipel blocked the car with his patrol vehicle. The two cars collided, with the police vehicle sustaining damage to the right rear corner panel in the trunk area. Geipel was not injured. "He did the right thing," said Milltown Police Chief Raymond Geipel, who is Eric Geipel's father. "The speed limit is 45 mph in that area. If he didn't stop it and the vehicle hit somebody at that speed, it could have been a lot worse for everyone involved." The original accident happened when Cristiane Neves, a 19-year-old South River resident, reportedly turned left in front of another car at a green light. The other driver involved in the accident was Susan Krantz, 41, of East Brunswick, who had an 11-year-old boy in the car with her. All three individuals were treated and released from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. Airbags were deployed in both vehicles, said Lt. Bill Krause of the East Brunswick Police Department. East Brunswick police issued Neves a summons for failure to yield and careless driving, Krause said.