Driver hit by landing United flight suffered trauma despite minor injuries, family says
Video of the incident, previously shown by News 12, captured how narrowly the crash avoided a far more serious outcome.
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New details are emerging about the driver who survived after a plane landing at Newark Liberty International Airport struck his truck on the New Jersey Turnpike, as his family speaks publicly about the ordeal.
The driver, identified as 39‑year‑old Warren Boardley Jr., was driving a bakery truck Sunday when it was struck by the landing gear of a United Airlines flight arriving at Newark.
Video of the incident, previously shown by News 12, captured how narrowly the crash avoided a far more serious outcome.
Boardley suffered minor physical injuries but significant emotional trauma, according to his father.
“He described total fear that he wasn’t going to walk away from it,” said his father Warren Boardley Sr. “That he was going to be decapitated.”
The family’s attorney says they believe negligence may have played a role.
“We expect there is some negligence there,” the attorney said. “Planes don’t normally drop out of the sky. They just don’t ordinarily and normally hit 18‑wheelers traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike.”
The attorney says the family has contacted United Airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Investigations into the incident remain ongoing.
