Only one person in a car struck by a garbage truck survived an accident this week on Long Island.
The crash involved three people who were traveling in a car that was broadsided by a garbage truck at a North Bellmore intersection, Nassau County police told Newsday. All three victims were in a 2002 Hyundai Accent that was traveling east when it was hit by a 1998 Mack truck that was heading north. The garbage truck hit the car’s passenger side at about 11:10 a.m., said Newsday; the deadly accident occurred at Newbridge Road and Camp Avenue, which is Beltagh Avenue east of the crash scene, police explained, said Newsday.
According to police, a witness told them the truck did have the green light; however, after it struck the car, it left the vehicle behind and continued traveling another two or more blocks before stopping, said Newsday. Sadly, the car’s male driver was pronounced dead at a hospital; the female in the front, passenger seat was pronounced dead at the scene, said Newsday. The 31-year-old female passenger who was sitting in the car’s backseat was hospitalized in critical condition, police told Newsday.
Detective Lieutenant John Azzata, head of the Nassau Homicide Squad, told Newsday that the truck driver, who was born in 1966, was not injured and is cooperating with police. No one has been charged and the names of those involved have not been released. “We don’t have any indication, as of right now, that there’s any criminality involved in this,” Azzata told Newsday. “Unfortunately, we do have two deaths.”
Newsday said the Hyundai was wrecked and the truck suffered minor front-end damage. Both vehicles will be examined for any potential mechanical failures. The truck belongs to Jamaica Ash Rubbish & Removal Co. of Westbury.
We also just wrote that a school bus accident this week, in Jericho, New York sent 12 students to the hospital. The children, ages 15 and 16 suffered minor injuries, said authorities, according to Newsday. At least one other vehicle was involved in the crash that occurred at the intersection of Brush Hollow Road and Jericho Turnpike, a Nassau police spokeswoman told Newsday.
Just prior, the Mineola Patch reported that an SUV collided with a mini school bus that was transporting special-needs children on Jericho Turnpike in Mineola on November 13 at 4:14 p.m. The SUV’s front end was damaged, as was the rear door of the mini school bus, which is owned by We Transport. At least one aide and a number of special needs children were transported to an area hospital.
Last month, a Long Island school bus driver was charged with drinking while driving after he crashed the during a field trip. The crash injured a 12-year-old passenger, Suffolk police told the New York Post. In that case, James Sommer, 47, of Massapequa, was transporting 27 seventh grade students from the Plainedge Middle School. Sommer was arrested at the scene and charged with driving while ability impaired by alcohol (DWAI), a misdemeanor. At first, police charged Sommer with a felony DWAI, but downgraded the offense pending further investigation. The Sommer crash followed two prior arrests of school bus drivers in October. One took place in Syosset and the other in Ronkonkoma, both on Long Island.
