A Good Samaritan helped saved a woman from a fiery car after she crashed head-on into another vehicle in Westminster last night.
The young woman was driving on Route 140 when she swerved into the other lane and struck an oncoming car carrying two male passengers. The woman’s car became engulfed in flames, and firefighters were dispatched to the scene.
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A new study published by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that while most semitrailers are doing their part in trying to keep cars from sliding underneath them during a crash, most of them fail to prevent deadly underride.
Underride crashes occur when a vehicle collides with the rear or side of a semi-truck trailer. The force of impact during the crash as well as the weight of the trailer have the capability to crush or shear off the roof of a car. When the occupant compartment is crushed, safety apparatuses like airbags and seat belts tend to fail. Individuals involved in these types of accidents usually suffer serious and often fatal head and torso injuries, as well as decapitation.
Most modern semitrailers are required to have underride guards (steel bars that hang below the back of trailers) to prevent vehicles from sliding beneath them. Their purpose is to ultimately decrease the amount of vehicular damage and increase the chances of survival during an accident. Many tractor trailer manufacturers now produce trailers with underride guards that are stronger and larger than what is required by law, to maximize their effectiveness in the event of an accident.
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Last night, 3-year old Jayden Figueroa was tragically killed when his mother, Christina Castro, lost control of her Toyota Camry while driving in Worcester, MA. Jayden’s two brothers ages 5 and 7, were also passengers in Castro’s car, and suffered injuries from the accident. None of the three boys were properly restrained.
Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death among young children and young adults in America. It is estimated that 1 out of every 3 Americans will be injured or killed in a motor vehicle crash.
According to the CDC, 1,314 children under the age of 14 were killed and 179,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes in 2009. Properly restraining your child with a federally approved child safety seat reduces the risk of death or serious injury of a child by more than 50%.
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A former Middleboro High School teacher and boys soccer coach died in a car crash Saturday night.
James Braga was driving on Route 44 when his vehicle collided with another car just after 9:00 p.m. Officials pronounced Braga dead at the scene at 9:25 p.m., said Bridget N. Middleton, spokesperson for Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz. State and local police are investigating the accident, Middleton said.
Selectman Alfred P. Rullo Jr., who has known Braga since high school, said the news hit him hard. “He was a good friend. I’m going to miss him a lot. This is a tough one. Middleboro lost one of their good guys that’s for sure.” Rullo spent Sunday with Braga’s family. He explained that they were too grief-stricken to speak with the media. “It’s a nightmare. They need some time,” he said.
It appears that one of the cars was traveling west on Route 44 when it crashed into another car that was heading south on Everett Street, but Middleton refused to specify which car Braga was operating.
Three ambulances and a medical helicopter responded to the crash, according to police scanner reports. An unidentified man was also hurt in the crash, Middleton said. Emergency responders brought him to a Boston-area hospital for treatment, and he was eventually released.
Braga left behind his wife Kerrie (Mosley) Braga, three sons, Jonathan, 29, James, 36, and Keith 41, and a sister, Gail, who is living in New York.
Funeral arrangements have not been made, but the service will likely take place in Middleboro, Selectman Rullo said.
Selectman Rullo said he and Braga became friends after high school. They were part of a foursome that took an annual golf vacation to New Hampshire. “He loved to play golf,” Rullo said. Braga was a few years behind Rullo in high school, and served in the U.S. Air Force.
Braga taught high school business and coached the boys soccer team, taking them to the championship, Rullo said. Braga lost his teaching position when the business program was cut. He then went on to have a career inspecting older, urban properties scheduled for rehabilitation with federal money, Rullo said.
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An Andover, MA man was killed and two others were seriously injured in a head-on collision on Route 125 in Wilmington.
Robert Leon, 47, of Andover, died after the 2013 Toyota Corolla he was operating crashed head-first into a 2004 Chevrolet K1500 SUV. The Corolla crossed the center line, narrowly missed another vehicle, and then crashed into the SUV. Officials are still investigating why Leon’s vehicle crossed the center line.
The collision took place at around 8:30 p.m. on a stretch of Route 125 close to the North Reading line.
Wilmington and Andover Fire Departments arrived at the accident site, and used the Jaws of Life to free Leon from his car. Officials pronounced him dead at the scene.
Massachusetts State Police have identified the occupants of the SUV, but are not releasing their names. Officials believe that the 43-year-old man and 12-year-old boy, both of Wilmington, are father and son. An ambulance brought them to Lawrence General Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Troop A of the State Police is investigating the accident with assistance from the State Police Collision Analysis Reconstruction Section, Crime Scene Photo, Wilmington and Andover Police Departments, and Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Route 125 was closed for about 2 ½ hours when investigators and cleanup crews were on the scene.
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On Sunday, March 3, 2013, a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle as she was crossing Lansdowne Street in Boston, MA. The pedestrian, whose identity and current medical condition has not yet been released by the authorities, was transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for treatment following the collision.
Boston Police Department Foot Patrolmen witnessed the accident. The Officers witnessed a Mercury Grand Marquis strike the pedestrian around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. According to a press release from the Boston Police Department, “[t]he vehicle did not attempt to stop after striking the victim.”
Following the hit-and-run accident, the Police released a broadcast which described the vehicle involved in the incident. Subsequently, the Boston Police stopped the suspect’s car on Boylston Street. The Police then identified the driver as 30 year old Everett W. Strauss of Peabody, Massachusetts.
Straus has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury and possession of a Class D drug.
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A bus transporting members of the University of Maine women’s basketball team crashed north of Boston Tuesday night. The bus crossed the median of Interstate 95 and four northbound lanes before plowing into the woods, severely injuring the driver and causing minor injuries to many passengers.
Emergency responders freed the unidentified driver from, and transported him or her by MedFlight helicopter to Boston Medical Center. The team’s coach suffered facial lacerations. The players were more fortunate, sustaining what seemed to be less severe injuries.
University of Maine assistant coach and former WNBA recruiter Jhasmine Player described how the accident unfolded. “We hit the strip, and that is how we knew something was going on,” Player said. “From there, all I saw was lights. The only screams we heard were from our coaches who told us to get down and stay down.” “Our head coaches were able to tell us to get down and brace ourselves,” Player said.
Authorities said they are still trying to determine the cause of the accident at around 8:30 p.m., but their early stages of the investigation point to the driver having some kind of a medical incident, said State Police spokesman David Procopio. The driver was conscious when investigators interviewed him at Boston Medical Center, said Major Arthur Sugrue of the State Police early Wednesday. He suffered several broken bones, but not any fatal injuries, Sugrue said. Authorities are unlikely to charge the driver with any crimes, but troopers will verify whether his medical records were current, Sugrue said.
Sugrue said investigators will examine any footage they recover from the bus’ black box. He added that there was no evidence the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Around the country, anxious parents checked in with their children by phone to make sure they were ok. In Worcester, Leo Nalivaike said her daughter called briefly to report she was uninjured but being taken to the hospital for examination. “She’s shaken up and nerved up, and of course being parents — of course we’re also shaken up,” said Nalivaika. “This could’ve been worse. We’re just hoping for the best for the bus driver and the rest of the squad.”
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We previously blogged about a Danvers, MA man involved in a collision with a plow truck on Interstate 95 last Tuesday. Now, the plow truck driver has come forward to give his account of the accident.
Howie Lane of Essex, MA was parked in the breakdown lane before Exit 47, watching his co-worker move snow with a front-end loader. They were operating under a private contract for the state. Suddenly, 35-year-old Franco Carullo drove a 2008 Jeep Wrangler into Lane’s plow truck. “He went from 55 miles per hour, 60 miles per hour, to nothing,” Lane said. “We couldn’t understand how the guy hit us.”
Lane jumped out of his vehicle after the impact, slipped and fell to the ground, and then hurried over to the crashed Jeep with his co-worker. They saw Carullo inside, and it appeared he was unconscious. They tried to enter, but the doors were locked and they couldn’t open the windows.
Lane smashed the window with a hammer, which allowed them to open the door. They had difficulty freeing Carullo from the vehicle because the deployed airbag had pinned the seatbelt against him. While they were struggling to unbuckle Carullo’s seatbelt, flames began to engulf the vehicle. “I never felt so useless in my life,” Lane said. Lane said this experience convinced him of the importance of always carrying a knife.
Their persistence paid off when they finally unlatched Carullo’s seatbelt. “When that seat belt released, I felt like I hit Megabucks,” Lane said. Then the two dragged the unconscious Carullo, whose legs were broken and pants on fire, to a safe distance from the car, shortly before it burst into flames. “As we dragged him out, the car blew up,” Lane said.
“I was just relieved we got him out,” Lane said. “It turned out good, but I got to tell you, when it was all going down, it was bad. It was a bad deal.”
According to Lane, Carullo regained consciousness minutes later, asking “Is this my Jeep?” Carullo responded, “You can forget the Jeep. The Jeep is junk. It’s burned to a crisp.”
Carullo communicated that he might have fallen asleep while driving, Lane said.
Emergency responders arrived at the accident scene by 2:05 a.m. An ambulance brought him to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
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A head-on automobile crash left a mother and son dead and another man severely injured in Fitchburg Sunday morning. Michelle Martens, 36, and her son, Justin Fournier, 16, both residents of Ashby were killed in the 10:00 a.m. collision, officials said. Emergency responders brought Wayne F. Patenaude to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester with serious injuries, police said.
Martens and Fournier were traveling in a Kia Sportage that crossed over a marked lane on Route 31, hitting the Chevy Silverado Patenaude was driving, investigators said. Police are unsure who was driving the Kia at the time.
All three of the victims were connected to the fire department in Ashby, a small town in central Massachusetts. Ashby Fire Chief William Seymour Jr. said Martens was an EMT and third-generation firefighter, Fournier a participant in the department’s auxiliary program, and Patenaude a volunteer EMT with the department. “It still seems like it’s a nightmare,” Seymour said.
Peter McMurray, chairman of the Ashby Board of Selectmen, said of the deaths “it was a shock.” “We’re a small town, and everyone knew her through her father and grandfather. Everyone’s taking it pretty hard.” McMurray said he had worked alongside Martens many times.
The Ashby Fire Department held a meeting on Sunday morning to inform first responders of Martens’ death, McMurray said. “I think everybody will think about her for quite a while,” he said.
Perenaude suffered injuries to his head and right arm, and had a crushed right heel, Seymour said. He was expected to remain hospitalized overnight, according to the district attorney’s office.
Police said they are investigating if weather played a role in the accident. “The road was extremely slippery at that time this morning and it’s just too bad to start off a Sunday morning that way,” said fire deputy John Curran.
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A Danvers man was severely injured after crashing his vehicle into a state dump truck on Interstate 95. Franco Carullo, 35, was traveling in a northbound lane before 2:00 a.m. when he rear-ended a Massachusetts Department of Transportation dump truck, said state police spokesman Thomas Murphy. The dump truck was removing snow from the breakdown lane around Exit 47 at the time of the accident.
An unidentified “civilian witness” pulled Carullo from his 2008 Jeep Wrangler shortly before it burst into flames, Murphy said. Murphy was unable to confirm whether the witness was the driver of the dump truck or a passing motorist. By the time emergency responders arrived, the Jeep was “fully engulfed in flames,” he said.
Emergency responders transported Carullo by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital, but a representative of the hospital said their directory didn’t have him listed as a patient. The dump truck driver did not sustain any reported injuries.
Officials briefly closed all lanes of I-95 while firefighters put out the blaze. Engine 3, Engine 7, and Car 2 responded to the accident and crews used 1,500 gallons of water to extinguish the fire, said Deputy Chief Richard Nelson. The Fire Department received a report of the crash at 1:53 a.m. and was at the scene by 2:05, he said.
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