An 11-year old girl has died following a spectacular crash between a Johnston fire truck and a car at the intersection of Hartford and Atwood avenues on Wednesday afternoon.
Police said Anne Marie Indell, a town employee, was driving the car and suffered a broken ankle and Scott Clements was the firefighter behind the wheel of the truck, on its way to an emergency call.
The girl was a passenger in the car. The collision happened on the passenger side.
Witnesses told NBC 10 that they could hear the fire truck's sirens before the crash and police confirmed that the truck's lights and sirens appeared to be on. One witness said the car ran a red light.
"The fire truck had its sirens on," said Lynette Cardillo, who witnessed the accident. "I know it had its sirens on cause I heard it and when I saw her proceeding through the light, I thought to myself, 'Man, something's going to happen here because she just kept going.'"
But police said another witness swears the car had a green light.
While investigators are still trying to figure if the woman ran the light, they said the fire truck was equipped with a special system.
"When the emergency lights are activated on the fire department vehicle, it will basically kind of shut down the intersection so the fire department vehicle can travel through the intersection safely," said Johnston Deputy Police Chief Gary Maddocks. "In essence, it will give everybody a red light."
Police tested the system and said it was working.
Police are also trying to determine how fast each vehicle was going.
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