8/19/2019 Asbury Park Press front page Friday, March 11 2016

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TOMS RIVER - It was a horrifying scene of deathand twisted wreckage, but William Copes didn’t hesi-tate when he heard a baby’s cries from the rear of a

smoking minivan.“Oh, no,” he remembers saying to the handful of peo-ple who had raced with him to the site of the Wednesdaymorning crash on New Hampshire Avenue. “There’s ababy back there.”

Copes didn’t plan to be a hero that day.A Honda Odyssey that had passed Copes moments

before had just careened across the roadway, and vault-ed across a high berm studded with white pines anddown into a retention basin next to the Greenbriar adultcommunity.

Smoke poured from the battered vehicle’s engine.Behind the wheel, the 6-month-old girl’s mother, LeahEisdorfer, 28, lay dead.

But all Copes could think about was the baby.

See CRASH, Page 5A

THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

William Copes of Lakewood describes how he assisted in therescue of an infant in a crash that killed the baby's m other.

Baby’s rescuerrecounts ‘horrific’Toms River crashSHANNON MULLEN @MULLENAPP

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FRIDAY 03.11.16

VOLUME137

NUMBER 61

SINCE 1879

ADVICE JERSEY ALIVE

CLASSIFIED 4D

COMICS JERSEY ALIVE

LOCAL 3A

MOVIES JERSEY ALIVE

OBITUARIES 9A, 13A

OPINION 8A

SPORTS 1C

WEATHER 6C

YOUR MONEY 12A

Kurdish fighters describe ISILchemical weapons attacks in

August 2015. STORY, 1B

A search is on to replace the men’s basketball coach.STORY, 1C

IN SPORTS

Jordan’s outat Rutgers

NEWARK - Two days before a strike tentatively isset to begin, negotiations appeared to have unraveled

Thursday after NJ Transit sent out a notice telling em-ployees about the consequences to their jobs if theywere to stop work.

Union leaders were livid after railroad workerswere put on notice that striking employees would besuspended from their jobs, and lose their health insur-ance coverage, as well as any sick or vacation timeplanned during any stoppage.

“It is apparent that NJ Transit’s notice to the coali-tion members represents retaliatory action and harass-ment of the coalition members,” said Steve Burkert, acoalition spokesman and general chairman of theSMART-TD union, which represents conductors.

“This draconian action taken by NJ Transit while theparties are engaged in the negotiation process illus-trates NJ Transit’s unreasonable position and unwill-ingness to reach an amiable solution which is fair toboth parties,” said Burkert, reading a prepared state-ment.

See STRIKE, Page 5A

Talks go southafter notice of 

 job suspensionsMIKE DAVIS @BYMIKEDAVIS

FREEHOLD BOROUGH – Neptune police Sgt. Phil-ip Seidle, who fatally shot his ex-wife in front of acrowd of witnesses and their 7-year-old daughter inAsbury Park last year, pleaded guilty Thursday to ag-gravated manslaughter in a deal that spares him fromlife in prison without the possibility of parole.

Seidle, in entering the guilty plea before SuperiorCourt Judge Joseph W. Oxley, admitted that he fired 12shots in Tamara Wilson-Seidle’s direction on June 16,2015, ignoring a risk that she could die as a result. Thatwas on the same morning he was planning to take hisyoungest daughter to the Monmouth Mall to buy her adress for a father-daughter dance, but then learned aman had moved in with his ex-wife, he said.

He admitted that after the shooting, he sent a text tohis children that said, “Your mother is dead because ofher actions.”

First Assistant Prosecutor Marc LeMieux said hewill seek 30 years in prison for Seidle when he is sen-tenced Aug. 18. If the judge goes along with the recom-mendation, Seidle, 51, will be required to serve 25years and 6 months in prison before he can be consid-ered for release on parole, under the state’s No EarlyRelease Act, LeMieux said.

But defense attorney Edward C. Bertucio said hewill ask the judge to impose a prison term between 10and 20 years for the aggravated manslaughter, which

ASBURY PARK SHOOTING

COP ADMITS

KILLING HIS EXNeptune police officer accepts plea deal in slaying

that will spare him from life in prison without parole

THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Neptune police Sgt. Philip Seidle pleads guilty to aggravated manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child Thursday instate Superior Court in Freehold Borough.

SOUND OFF: Do you agree with the plea bargain? Tell us at APP.com

THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

KATHLEEN HOPKINS  @KHOPKINSAPP

See SEIDLE, Page 9A

Tamara Wilson-Seidle (left) had divorcedPhilip Seidle before she was shot to death.Kirsten Seidle (below) watches as herfather pleads guilty Thursday.