The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
A 29-year-old Manville man and his 7-year-old son drowned early in the morning of Sept.. 21 when the car in which they were riding plunged into the Delaware & Raritan Canal, police said.
Police said Jorge Luis Florez-Martinez was driving a 2006 Avalanche SUV along Weston Canal Road at about 2:55 a.m. when he failed to make a turn, struck a guardrail and the auto plunged into the canal.
Florez-Martinez’s wife, Yaritza Ruiz, 32, managed to escape the car and swim to safety, police said.
The bodies of Florez-Martinex and his son, Jorge Jr., were recovered from the canal by Somerset Fire and Rescue Fore Dept. divers, led by Chief Anthony Panchery, police said.
Numerous fire and rescue companies from Somerset and Middlesex counties assisted in the search and recovery of the victims, police said.
Weston Canal Road was partially closed for several hours during the investigation.
Also responding to the scene were the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Collision Analysis Reconstruction (C.A.R) Team and the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Dive-Rescue Team, police said.
