Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Found a news piece:
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070529/NEWS03/705290330/-1/NEWS020
It probably won't be available forever, so here's the text:
Only minor injuries in fiery Thruway crash in Sloatsburg
By SARAH NETTERTHE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: May 29, 2007)
SLOATSBURG - No one was seriously injured in a Memorial Day accident that charred two vehicles and halted traffic on the New York State Thruway.
Jackson Julien, the driver of a tractor-trailer, said he was in the northbound middle lane about a mile north of Exit 15A when the driver of a sport utility vehicle attempted to move left from the right lane.
Julien said he tried to move into the left lane to compensate, but hit another car with his trailer. The truck jackknifed and crashed into the guardrail, taking the SUV with it, and burst into flames, sending plumes of black smoke high into the sky.
"The lady said she didn't see me," he said, referring to the SUV's driver.
Sgt. Christine Revella of the state police confirmed that the woman in the SUV "said she never saw a truck" and that police were going by Julien's account.
The northbound Thruway was closed for about an hour and was gradually opened.
Rockland Paramedic Services Capt. Bo Tunno said the woman, her husband and their child, who was about 2, were taken by Sloatsburg Volunteer Ambulance Corps to Good Samaritan Hospital.
The man and child were taken for observation, Tunno said, and the woman complained of pain in her right shoulder.
Tunno said Julien complained of pain on his left side, but repeatedly refused medical treatment.
"We attempted a few times," he said. "We almost had him in the ambulance once, but he did not want to go with us."
Instead, Julien paced the tandem trailer parking lot just south of the accident, watching the traffic and smoking a cigarette.
"I'm OK," he said.
A crew from the Ramapo Valley Ambulance Corps was the first on the scene. First Lt. Patrick McKiernan said the first thing he saw was a plume of smoke. The crash victims were out of their vehicles, he said, so they started triage, first under the tandem lot overpass and then in the lot itself.
"I think they were just in shock as to the whole situation," he said.
McKiernan said bystanders were told to get back into their cars and roll up their windows, as emergency workers didn't know what might be burning in the truck. [Silk edit - Um, no. I was only six cars back, and nobody told me to roll up windows.]
Julien said later that his trailer was empty.
Steve and Kim Leon and their two children were on the way from their home in the Bronx to a barbecue upstate.
They didn't see the accident happen, but were among the first cars stuck behind the emergency vehicles.
"We heard tires popping, debris flying," Steve Leon said. "Lots of black smoke.
"And we also witnessed cars zooming by it," he said.
Wagdi Gobrial and his wife, Mary, of Edison, N.J., were on their way to the Woodbury Common Premium Outlets when they drove up just behind the accident.
"When we got closer, we saw flames shooting up to the sky," Gobrial said.
Like many others trapped on the Thruway, Gobrial got out of his car and watched emergency workers, even taking the time to light a cigarette. Some drivers turned off their engines, while others left them running to keep the air conditioning on. Some climbed through sunroofs to get a better view.
Also on the scene were volunteers from the Sloatsburg, Hillburn, Suffern and Tuxedo fire departments.
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