Date: Fri 08-Mar-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

accident-police-Main-St

Full Text:

with cuts: Another Serious Accident Closes Main Street

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Two trucks collided on South Main Street in a cold rain Wednesday afternoon,

resulting in both drivers being trapped in their vehicles, diesel fuel leaking

into a nearby stream, and a section of the road closing to traffic during the

evening rush.

Police, firefighters and ambulance personnel converged on a rain-slicked

section of South Main Street, just south of Hawley Road, to deal with the

second major accident on South Main Street in the past 10 days. On February

26, a serious three-car crash near the Citgo gas station injured seven people

and closed a section of the road to traffic for 90 minutes.

As Newtown Hook and Ladder and Botsford firefighters labored with hydraulic

prying tools to free the two men trapped in their trucks, waves of iridescent

diesel fuel washed across the asphalt road, eventually draining into the

stream that leaves Hawley Pond at the Ram Pasture. The stream flows southward

across the Newtown Country Club golf course, before ending in a wetland near

the intersection of South Main Street and Elm Drive.

Police provided this account of the collision:

Motorist David Robertson, 20, of 62 Hanover Road was driving southbound on

South Main Street at about 3:38 pm in a compact pickup truck when he lost

control of the vehicle and crossed into the northbound lane.

After crossing the road, the pickup truck smashed into a northbound United

Parcel Service tractor-trailer truck driven by Henry Janssen, 48, of New

Fairfield.

After the collision, the trailer truck continued moving, smashing head-on into

a tree alongside the southbound road shoulder, causing extensive damage to the

truck's cab. The rear-end of the pickup truck was flattened in the collision.

Firefighters carefully extricated the two stunned men from their vehicles and

the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps transported both drivers to Danbury

Hospital.

Police said Mr Janssen received multiple injuries, including head, leg and

back injuries. Mr Robertson also received multiple injuries, including facial

and head injuries, according to police.

Mr Janssen was admitted to the hospital. His condition was unavailable from

the hospital Thursday morning. Mr Robertson was treated and released, a

hospital spokeswoman said.

Officials summoned the state Department of Environmental Protection to the

accident scene to supervise the diesel fuel cleanup work. The 50 gallons of

fuel leaked from a ruptured fuel tank on the trailer truck.

According to one unofficial report, the section of South Main Street near the

accident was closed to traffic for approximately three and one-half hours.

After the collision, the trailer section of the tractor-trailer truck was

positioned across both lanes of South Main Street.

Motorists used two roads which run parallel to South Main Street, Elm Drive

and Queen Street, as detours while the section of South Main Street was

closed. Queen Street was an unusual sight during the evening rush, as heavy

traffic bounded over the bumpy, cratered, uneven road which was recently dug

up for sewers. The street will be repaved when the weather improves. Police

said the two-truck accident is under investigation.