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Body of missing N.J. officer found near bridge; truck had plunged into river on Christmas

Associated Press Writer

NEWARK, N.J. – Divers recovered the body of a police officer Thursday afternoon near the drawbridge where he and another officer plunged to their deaths on Christmas night.The body of Jersey City Officer Robert Nguyen was found by New York City police divers who were helping with the search, said Paul Browne, spokesman for the New York police.Nguyen’s flag-draped body was driven slowly over the bridge as scores of police officers and firefighters stood and saluted.Nguyen was in an emergency services vehicle that plummeted 45 feet off the open drawbridge in blinding rain and fog into the frigid Hackensack River on Sunday night.The body of the other officer, Shawn Carson, 40, was found about 90 minutes after the accident.The officers were at the Lincoln Highway Bridge to help place warning cones and flares because the safety bar and bell used to warn motorists when the bridge was open had been damaged in a truck accident.Before the two officers drove back across the bridge, its operator raised the middle span to allow a tugboat to pass underneath. The truck went into the water despite efforts by horrified colleagues to flag the officers down, police said.Mason Nguyen said the discovery of his brother’s body “helps some of the pain.””Now we have to continue and give him a proper burial,” he said. “He was my brother, he was my hero. I loved him.”—Associated Press writer Michael Weissenstein in New York contributed to this report.Associated Press


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