February 06, 2026
Provided Image/Tucker Upper
New Jersey YouTuber Tucker Upper ventured out to the Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area in Eagleswood Township, Ocean County, last weekend to take photos of a truck that was frozen in an icy lake. The driver abandoned the truck after it cracked through the ice during a series of stunts.
A man who drove his pickup truck onto a frozen lake at the Jersey Shore last month is lucky to be alive after plummeting through the ice while doing stunts in the middle of the night. He now faces criminal charges and will need a new set of wheels to replace the truck that's still encased in ice.
Video of the brazen ride at the state-owned Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area in Eagleswood was posted on social media Jan. 31. The state property in Ocean County is on the mainland side of the Manahawkin Bay, near Long Beach Island.
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The 44-year-old driver, who has not been identified, is shown in the video doing donuts on the ice just before the rear tires crack through the surface. The truck's headlights tilt toward the sky as it begins to sink.
The man managed to escape from the vehicle and get off the frozen lake, but he had to leave his car behind. By the next morning, it was almost completely submerged and encased in ice.
"Stupidity at its finest," Eagleswood Township Mayor Michael Pasternak told NBC10's Ted Greenberg. "It's not something you should be doing.”
First responders who went to the wildlife area for a report about the abandoned truck had to determine at the scene whether anyone was inside.
"When you commit an act like this, when you do something like this, there's a lot of other lives on the line," Parkertown Volunteer Fire Company Captain Frank Runza Jr. told NBC10. "It's about more than you."
The driver reportedly was uninjured and faces summonses for reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident and other offenses. New Jersey State Police did not respond Friday when contacted about the man's identity.
After videos of the frozen truck spread among social media groups for the Pine Barrens, YouTuber Tucker Upper decided to drive out to the wildlife area to get video of it. He acknowledged he took a serious risk walking onto the ice, but said he felt confident it was thick enough to hold his weight.
"Where they broke through, it was only a few inches thick. I could see where it wasn't thick enough to walk on," Upper said. "I would never advise anybody to ever go on the ice."
Upper, who has more than 227,000 YouTube subscribers, often posts videos about the Pine Barrens. He said his videos of the frozen truck have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times across various platforms over the past week. One of his most watched videos documents his discovery of a car fully submerged in a pond in Mays Landing, where he went underwater to explore the scene before reporting it to police.
"A lot of people found my channel through that video, so it's just ironic that there's another car in another lake," Upper said. "People are commenting like, 'Hey, I found your channel from the original lake car and now here's a truck in a lake."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says cars shouldn't be driven on ice less than 9 inches thick, and medium-sized trucks need about 12 inches of support. People need at least 2 inches of ice — ideally 4 or 5 inches — to support their weight for walking, skating and ice fishing.
With below-freezing temperatures in the forecast again this weekend, Upper said he'd be surprised if the truck in Eagleswood can be removed from the lake any time soon.
Waterways across the region have been frozen for weeks, and Philadelphia police have been warning people to keep off icy bodies of water for their own good and for the safety of first responders. The National Weather Service says it will take several days with temperatures in the 40s for icy bodies of water to melt.
Camden firefighter Howard Bennett, 61, died Thursday morning after he fell into the icy Delaware River while doing maintenance on a fire boat. Bennett was stuck in the water for nearly 30 minutes while first responders attempted to rescue him, investigators said.
"This tragedy is a stark and painful reminder that the dangers of this profession do not only exist within a burning building," Matthew Caliente, president of the Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey, said Thursday. "Our members put their lives on the line every single day."
