A local motorist was involved in three collisions in rapid sequence along an 800-foot-long section of Sugar Street (Route 302) on the morning of Sunday, April 30, police said.

Motorist Benjamin Keeney, 63, of Newtown, was transported to Danbury Hospital for treatment of injuries due to the crashes, police said. Police said that Keeney sustained serious injuries and was a patient in that hospital on May 2. A hospital spokesman on May 3 said that there was "no information" on Keeney.

Police said that Keeney, who was driving a 2008 Toyota Prius northward on Boggs Hill Road at about 9:30 am, approached its intersection with Sugar Street, as motorist Osa Ogieva, 32, of New York City, who was driving a 2003 Toyota Camry sedan eastward on Sugar Street, was approaching the same intersection.

The Prius did not stop after passing a stop sign posted on Boggs Hill Road and then accelerated, attempting to turn left onto westbound Sugar Street, directly in front of the approaching Camry, resulting in a collision, police said.

After that crash, the Prius started moving eastward on Sugar Street and repeatedly drove on and off the road until the auto collided with a fire hydrant at the western intersection of Sugar Street and Baldwin Road, police said.

Motorist William Dunn, 48, of Redding, who had been driving eastward on Sugar Street in a 1997 Chevrolet Tahoe SUV, saw the Prius hit the fire hydrant and then attempt to drive away from that collision, police said.

Dunn then stopped the Tahoe behind the Prius in an attempt to prevent the Prius from driving away, police said. The Prius then backed into the Tahoe, according to police. Dunn was not injured.

Police said Ogieva also was transported to Danbury Hospital, where he was treated for injuries received in the first collision. Police said Ogieva was released from the hospital.

Newtown Hook & ladder volunteers firefighters responded to the incident.

Police Patrol Officer Robert Haas investigated the multiple collisions for police. The incident remains under investigation.