Two people were killed and two others, including a toddler, were injured in a wrong-way crash in Totowa, New Jersey, earlier this week.

Officials confirm the wrong-way driver was off-duty Newark firefighter Albin Fermin, 30. According to Newark officials, Fermin had been with the Newark Fire Department since February 2024 and was assigned to Engine 10.

Wrong-way driver, mother of 2-year-old killed

The crash happened on I-80 just after 2 a.m. Monday.

New Jersey State Police said 60-year-old Joanne Furman was driving west on I-80 with her daughter Imani Furman, 24, and her 2-year-old grandson, when they were struck head-on by Fermin, who was driving the wrong way.

Fermin and Imani Furman were both killed in the crash.

Police said Joanne Furman was seriously injured and the 2-year-old suffered moderate injuries. Both were taken to a local hospital.

The crash remains under investigation.

“It wasn’t my daughter’s fault”

Janice Furman, Joanne Furman’s mother and Imani Furman’s grandmother, said her family is devastated.

“It wasn’t my daughter’s fault. It was not her fault,” she said. “They’re showing pictures of [Fermin], his family and the whole team of his fire department. ‘We’re going to miss you.’ Almost like a heroic thing. This isn’t heroic. He killed someone.”

Janice Furman said after undergoing several surgeries, Joanne Furman regained consciousness Wednesday. That’s when the family had to break the news about Imani Furman.

“That’s all she said to me, is, ‘Mommy, she’s gone,’” Janice Furman said.

She said the family is overwhelmed with grief.

“Imani was a very spirit-filled young lady. She loved life. She loved to sing. She loved to dance,” Janice Furman said.

She said Imani Furman’s only son, Messiah, was her world.

“She won’t see him graduate. She won’t see anything,” Janice Furman said. 

Joanne Furman will have to undergo weeks of physical therapy before she can walk again, her mother said. The family is asking for prayers as they navigate her recovery and plan a funeral.

Ever since he won the governor’s office in a near-landslide victory in 2022, Shapiro has been mentioned alongside Democratic contemporaries like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and others as someone who could lead a national ticket.

Shapiro, 52, has already made rounds outside Pennsylvania. Last year, he campaigned for Democrats running for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, and he’s a frequent guest on Sunday talk shows that can shape the country’s political conversation.

He was also considered as a potential running mate for Kamala Harris in 2024. She chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz instead.

Shapiro’s first-term repeatedly put him in the spotlight.

He was governor when Pennsylvania was the site of the first attempted assassination of President Donald Trump; the capture of Luigi Mangione for allegedly killing United Healthcare chief executive Brian Thompson; and the murder of three police officers in the state’s deadliest day for law enforcement since 2009.

Last year, an arsonist tried to kill Shapiro by setting the governor’s official residence on fire in the middle of the night. Shapiro had to flee with his wife, children and members of his extended family, and the attack made him a sought-out voice on the nation’s recent spate of political violence.

As Shapiro settled into the governor’s office, he shed his buttoned-down public demeanor and became more plain-spoken.

He pushed to quickly reopen a collapsed section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, debuting his new and profane governing slogan — “get s—- done” — at a ceremony for the completed project.

He crossed the partisan divide over school choice to support a Republican-backed voucher program, causing friction with Democratic lawmakers and allies in the state.

Shapiro regularly plays up the need for bipartisanship in a state with a politically divided Legislature, and positioned himself as a moderate on energy issues in a state that produces the most natural gas after Texas.

He’s rubbed elbows with corporate executives who are interested in Pennsylvania as a data center destination and thrust Pennsylvania into competition for billions of dollars being spent on manufacturing and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Shapiro has enjoyed robust public approval ratings and carries a reputation as a disciplined messenger and powerhouse fundraiser.

He served two terms as state attorney general before getting elected governor, although his 2022 victory wasn’t the strongest test of his political viability. His opponent was state Sen. Doug Mastriano, whose right-wing politics alienated some Republican voters and left him politically isolated from the party’s leadership and donor base.

For 2026, Pennsylvania’s Republican Party endorsed Stacy Garrity, the twice-elected state treasurer, to challenge Shapiro.

Garrity has campaigned around Pennsylvania and spoken at numerous Trump rallies in the battleground state, but she is untested as a fundraiser and will have to contend with her relatively low profile as compared to Shapiro.

Shapiro, meanwhile, keeps a busy public schedule, and has gone out of his way to appear at high-profile, non-political events like football games, a NASCAR race and onstage at a Roots concert in Philadelphia.

He is a regular on TV political shows, podcasts and local sports radio shows, and he keeps a social media staff that gives him a presence on TikTok and other platforms popular with Gen Z. He even went on Ted Nugent’s podcast, a rocker known for his hard-right political views and support for Trump.

Shapiro also became a leading pro-Israel voice among Democrats and Jewish politicians amid the Israel-Hamas war. He confronted divisions within the Democratic Party over the war, criticized what he describes as antisemitism amid pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and expressed solidarity with Israel in its drive to eliminate Hamas.

In 2024, some activists argued against him being the party’s nominee for vice president. Harris, in her recent book, wrote that she passed on Shapiro after determining that he wouldn’t be a good fit for the role.

Shapiro, she wrote, “mused that he would want to be in the room for every decision,” and she “had a nagging concern that he would be unable to settle for a role as number two and that it would wear on our partnership.” Shapiro disputed the characterization, telling The Atlantic that Harris’ accounts were ”blatant lies” and later, on MS NOW, said it “simply wasn’t true.”

In a September appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” the host, Kristen Welker, asked him whether he’d commit to serving a full second term as governor and whether he’d rule out running for president in 2028.

“I’m focused on doing my work here,” he said in sidestepping the questions.

His supposed White House aspirations — which he’s never actually admitted to in public — are also mentioned frequently by Garrity.

“We need somebody that is more interested in Pennsylvania and not on Pennsylvania Avenue,” Garrity said on a radio show in Philadelphia.

For his part, Shapiro criticizes Garrity as too eager to get Trump’s endorsement to be an effective advocate for Pennsylvania.

In any case, the campaign trail could afford Shapiro an opportunity to audition for a White House run.

For one thing, Shapiro has been unafraid to criticize Trump, even in a swing state won by Trump in 2024. As governor, Shapiro has joined or filed more than a dozen lawsuits against Trump’s administration, primarily for holding up funding to states.

He has lambasted Trump’s tariffs as “reckless” and “dangerous,” Trump’s threats to revoke TV broadcast licenses as an “attempt to stifle dissent” and Trump’s equivocation on political violence as failing the “leadership test” and “making everyone less safe.”

In a recent news conference he attacked Vice President JD Vance — a potential Republican nominee in 2028 — over the White House’s efforts to stop emergency food aid to states amid the federal government’s shutdown.

Many of Shapiro’s would-be competitors in a Democratic primary won’t have to run for office before then.

Newsom is term-limited, for instance. Others — like ex-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — aren’t in public office. A couple other governors in the 2028 conversation — Moore and Pritzker — are running for reelection this year.

Editor’s note: Coaches are reminded to send in game results each weeknight, from 6-10 p.m., by emailing them to pjsports@providencejournal.com or by calling (401) 277-7340.

🏀GAME OF THE NIGHT

Did the best high school basketball game of the season happen on Wednesday night?

The ups and downs between the Chariho and Juantia Sanchez boys basketball teams were rivaled only by the nearest amusement park and one overtime wasn’t enough to decide a winner. In the second overtime, Evander Perez came through with six points, helping the Chargers pull out the 84-76 win over the Cavaliers.

Juanita Sanchez got off to the start it wanted, with 13 combined points from Geston Richardson and Amaree Gomes giving the team a 19-11 lead. The second quarter belonged to Chariho, as seven different players scored and the defense locked down to give it a 31-25 lead at halftime.

The Cavaliers turned the tides on the Chargers in the third quarter – helped by a defense that allowed only eight points – but Chariho had enough in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime. Both teams found a groove on offense in the first overtime, with each scoring 10 points, but Perez got the Chargers’ offense going in the second overtime and the defense held the Cavaliers to six points.

Three different Chariho players reached double figures and two others almost got there as well. Brendan Gleason led the way with 21 points and Perez and Riley Conroy both scored 19 in the win. Sam Ellis and Rohan Downing helped out with nine points apiece.

Richardson was masterful in defeat, scoring a season-best 35 points. Gomes ended his night with 14 points and Angel Collazo closed out with 13 in the loss. 

🏀BOYS BASKETBALL – Division I

Smithfield 61, Portsmouth 56

C.J. Blakely and Christian Snowman came up big in the second half, helping the Sentinels pull off a 61-56 upset over the Patriots.

Smithfield came in with a 2-5 record in Division I while Portsmouth was 3-0, but those records didn’t mean anything when the teams hit the floor. The game was gritty between the two teams, but the Patriots found a way to take a 27-24 at halftime.