Rensselaer
The smell of gasoline loomed in the air Sunday night as firefighters cleared glass and vehicle parts from the intersection of Third Avenue and Adams Street — the site of a fatal multi-car crash.
"This is one of the worst I've seen," said Deputy Rensselaer Police Chief James Frankowski, a multi-decade veteran of the department.
Police gave few details about the accident, which occurred about 2 p.m. just outside the city center, closing Adams Street and a portion of Third Avenue for the majority of the afternoon and into the evening.
It involved two four-door cars and a two-door Domino's Pizza delivery car, all of which were moving at the time of the accident, police said. Another four cars parked along the residential street also were struck.
Four people were sent to Albany Medical Center Hospital.
Police Sunday didn't release the name or sex of the person killed, however onlookers said it may have been a pregnant woman.
Details about the others involved in the crash were not released, though police at the scene said their injuries were not life-threatening.
Bryant Bennett, who lives on nearby East Avenue, was among the first on the scene and said that about 2 p.m. he heard the screeching of tires followed by multiple impact sounds. When he reached the scene, he found the carnage and called 911.
"It was just metal on metal on metal, the sound of smashing ... it didn't look good," Bennett said.
He said a man emerged from one of the cars screaming about his eight-months pregnant wife in the passenger seat.
Bennett cut the seat belt, freeing the woman from the wreckage. A nurse who lives nearby performed CPR on the woman until medical personnel arrived.
When an ambulance arrived at the scene, the woman was placed inside and taken to Albany Med with the lights and sirens not on, Bennett said.
"This is the worst accident I've ever seen. I just hope they can save the baby," he said.
At 6 p.m., a State Police accident reconstruction team was on the scene as wrecked vehicles were removed for evidence. Some of the cars were totaled, and one of them — a blue four-door the pregnant woman was in — was crumpled nearly in half.
The cars involved appeared to have been traveling in the same direction toward a bridge that runs over East Avenue, when the accident occurred at a stop light. Parked cars on both sides of the street were hit.
The speed limit on that section of the road is 30 mph, decreasing from a 45 mph zone farther up the road. A possible cause was not available Sunday night.
kclukey@timesunion.com • 518-454-5467 • @KClukey_TU
Source : http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/One-dead-four-injured-in-seven-car-crash-5882103.php?
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