Introduction
WAYNE VINCENT MILLER was born in Camden, New Jersey on November 17, 1963 to Constance and Warren P. Miller. His father was a member of the Camden Fire Department.
Warren P. Miller had been appointed to the Camden Fire Department on April 12, 1956. The 1956 and 1959 New Jersey Bell Telephone Directories show Warren P. Miller at 2114 Watson Street in East Camden. The Miller family moved to 433 Trenton Avenue during the 1960s, and they were still at that address as late as 1977. Warren P. Miller passed away on May 6, 1985, leaving a widow, Constance Miller, and a son, Wayne V. Miller.
Wayne V. Miller was appointed to the Camden Fire Department on December 16, 1987. He was living at 343-A Marlton Avenue. Sadly, he was killed in a single-car accident on July 28, 1990.
Fire Destroys Church, Forcing Evacuations
Camden Courier-Post —
Firefighters David Yates, George A. Reese and Wayne V. Miller
Fireman Killed, Colleague Charged in Highway Crashes
Camden Courier-Post —
By CAROL COMEGNO
Courier-Post Staff
Deadly crash: A sports car sits crushed after its driver, a Camden fireman, hit a median strip on Interstate 295 in Bellmawr yesterday and overturned near the Black Horse Pike exit. Wayne Miller, 26, (below), was killed instantly. — Courier-Post photo by Curt Hudson
BELLMAWR — One Camden fireman was killed and another escaped injury yesterday in almost simultaneous but separate accidents on Route 295.
Police said Wayne Miller, 26, of 343A Marlton Ave., Camden, was killed instantly when his sports car hit a median strip and overturned on the highway near the Black Horse Pike exit.
Moments later and about a mile further south on the highway, Daryl Davis, 33, of 534 Trenton Ave., Camden, lost control of his sports car and hit a guard rail.
Davis has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and reckless driving.
A woman passenger who was thrown from Davis’ car was identified as Darlene Stegll, 35, of Rand Street, Camden. She was treated at Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center, Camden, and released.
Captain Thomas Gallagher of state police headquarters in Trenton, said Davis and Miller, both driving Datsun 280 ZX’s, had left a drinking establishment in Lawnside shortly before the 5:45 a.m. accidents.
He said both got onto Route 295 southbound at the White Horse Pike entrance.
Gallagher said a preliminary investigation indicates “a strong possibility of excessive speed due to racing” in both of the crashes, which occurred a mile apart southbound near Route 42.
“Our investigators determined that one of the cars (the Davis car) had to be doing better than 100 miles per hour,” the captain said at a press conference yesterday outside the Bellmawr state police station.
Gallagher gave the following account of the accidents:
First, the Miller car landed on the median strip and overturned just south of the Black Horse Pike exit. Meanwhile, 1.1 miles to the south, the Davis car struck the guard rail on the right shoulder of the road and then swerved into the far left lane, throwing the passenger from the car.
Gallagher said Davis later told the state police he lost control of the car after he encountered a slower-moving vehicle in the left lane and tried to pass it. He said he never saw Miller’s car crash.
A witness told police that Davis’ car was going at an excessive speed before the crash.
Miller and Davis were both assigned to Engine Company 7 at Mount Ephraim and Kaighns avenues in Camden, said Chief William Ayers of the department’s first battalion.
Frank McGuckin, president of the city firefighters union, said Miller was a good, responsible firefighter who was active in the union and had a bright future.
“It’s a shame if this tragedy was caused by something like racing. I hope that is not what happened,” he said.
Deputy fire chief Allen Hess declined comment on Miller’s death pending a further report from the state police on the accident.
Miller was a 1982 graduate of Camden High School and the son of a firefighter, the late Warren Miller.
Test Results Awaited on Victim of Crash
Camden Courier-Post —
CAMDEN — Investigators are waiting for laboratory tests to determine whether city firefighter Wayne Miller had been drinking before he died in a crash early Saturday on Interstate 295 in Bellmawr.
An autopsy yesterday by the Camden County Medical Examiner’s Office showed the cause of death was multiple internal injuries of the chest, abdomen, pelvis and head.
Blood and tissue samples were forwarded to the state medical examiner’s laboratory in Newark for testing.
Miller’s car flipped over in the median of Interstate 295 at about 5:45 a.m. Saturday when he and a firefighter friend driving another car were on their way home from a Lawnside bar, according to the state police.
Miller, 26, of 343A Marlton Ave., Camden, died instantly.
The other firefighter, Daryl Davis, was also involved in an accident with his own car within moments of the Miller accident and about a mile south of it. Davis and a woman passenger escaped serious injury, but Davis was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.
Fire Department Record Card
Wayne V. Miller — Camden Fire Department Record Card