JCPD commemorates 15-year death anniversary of Christmas night tragedy Updated Dec 27, 2020; Facebook Share JERSEY CITY — On Dec. 25, 2005, a foggy, rainy night, Jersey City Officers Shawn Carson and Robert Nguyen delivered emergency flares to colleagues on the Lincoln Highway Bridge to stop traffic because the bridge’s crash gates were damaged by a truck and inoperable. As the two finished handing out the flares and drove towards Jersey City, their truck drove off the road and plunged 45 feet into the 40-degree Hackensack River beneath them. The bridge’s safety bar and warning lights failed to activate when the lift-bridge opened for a tugboat to pass.