New York State's Dutchess County 9-1-1 put a call out to the rescue squad of East Fishkill Fire District for a one-car rollover on the Taconic State Parkway a few minutes past midnight on the morning of Thursday, June 9th, 2005.
Arriving units found a late model Nissan pick-up truck with heavy damage partially down an embankment adjacent to the parkway. The vehicle was wedged under a large felled tree just north of the route 52 interchange.
Chief Steven Conti immediatley radioed that extensive extrication would be required. The driver, a young male and sole occupant of the truck, had apparently fallen asleep and drifted from the roadway. He was entrapped by crushed exterior and interior components of the vehicle as well as having his head pinned between the window channel and the trunk of the tree.
A heavy wrecker supplied by Hyatt's Garage was used to help stabilize the truck and the tree until sufficient portions of the vehicle could be cut away to allow removal of the victim.
EMS, firefighters and extrication technicians worked in coordinated groups to affect the rescue.
The parkway had to be shut down in the north lane during the procedure. The freed driver was then transported, accompanied by advanced life support technicians, to an awaiting helicopter and flown to Westchester Medical Center hospital.
The northbound lane to the Taconic was re-opened at a little after 3am, after fire and rescue personnel finished clearing the roadway and recovering equipment.
The father of the young man, himself a fire commissioner in a neighboring township, sent a letter not long after to the East Fishkill Fire District thanking Chief Conti, firefighters, EMS and extrication personnel for their work.
The young man involved in the accident is expected to recover fully.
