SPRINGFIELD—A driver who smashed into a fire truck on Chestnut Street and then slammed into a Pearl Street apartment building a few doors down from the police station will be charged with drunk driving once she is released from the hospital, police said.
The woman suffered injuries in the 6 a.m. Tuesday crash and was taken to the hospital for evaluation, said Ryan Walsh. Police will seek a criminal complaint against her in Springfield District Court for operating under the influence of alcohol.
He said police will not release her name until charges are filed.
He said Springfield firefighters spotted her asleep behind the wheel on Chestnut Street. When firefighters knocked on her car window, the woman woke up startled and gunned the engine.
She smashed into a fire engine, and two unoccupied parked cars before turning from Chestnut onto Pearl Street. On Pearl, she shot past a police cruiser, went off the road and took out multiple light poles before slamming into 82-86 Pearl St., an apartment at Spring and Pearl.
According to Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Bernard J. Calvi, the collision caused an estimated $10,000 damage to Engine 3.
A photo of the truck shows it with a mangled front bumper. Some of the components underneath the bumper may have been damaged as well. He said it is not clear if the specialty-made chrome bumper can be repair or has to be replaced.
Leger said Engine 3 was dispatched to 122 Chestnut St. at 5:24 a.m. for a report of an alarm sounding. After that was checked out, and the truck was preparing to return to the station, firefighters spotted the woman slumped over the wheel of her running car.
Firefighters went over to investigate, thinking it was a possible overdose or a medical emergency, Leger said.
“When they tapped on the window, it startled her and she stepped on the gas,” he said.
Firefighters were also dispatched to the crash scene at Spring and Pearl to help extricate the woman from the car and to contain a fuel spill, he said.
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