NJ toll worker called out of work due to a ‘gut feeling.' Turns out, she was right

A woman in New Jersey had a gut instinct that may have saved her life.

A toll collector at the Jersey Shore called out of work after she said she had a feeling something bad was going to happen. Hours later, a garbage truck crashed into the toll plaza where she works.

It was early Friday morning when Jessica Daley, who works along the Garden State Parkway, said she awoke to a premonition.

“I had just like a really like, bad gut feeling that something was going to happen. Like something terrible was going to happen,” she said.

Then a second warning came around 4 a.m.

“I actually had a feeling that I was going to get in a car accident. And it was so strong, that I actually called out and I literally never call out of work,” Daley said.

About four hours later, there was a violent crash at the Barnegat Toll Plaza, as a garbage truck slammed into a collector’s booth.

Daley said that booth “is usually the booth that I’m in.”

Debris hit a Chevy pickup and the toll booth. A toll collector and the trash truck driver suffered serious injuries. Daley soon received word of the accident.

“My immediate response honestly, I dropped to my knees and just started crying. I was praying for everybody involved and thanking God that I had that feeling to call out,” she said.

State police said the crash is still under investigation. A spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority said the injured toll collector went home from the hospital later on Friday.

Daley went back to work the next day. For her and her mom, thinking about the crash brings a mix of emotions.

“I think her gut instinct was an angel or a premonition from a guardian angel telling her not to go in to protect her,” said her mother, Jennifer Daley. “It's hard to feel so happy that my daughter wasn't there, and at the same time, feel heartbreak for the ones that were involved.”

Daley said the warnings she felt have reinforced her belief in the power of faith.

“As of recently, I started getting a lot closer to God in the last like three months…I believe 100% that was God looking out for me,” she said.