GEDDES - Two people were critically injured in an accident Thursday morning that shut down a suburban Syracuse highway near the New York State Fairgrounds, state police said.
A little over an hour after Gov. David Paterson cut a red ribbon to officially open the New York State Fair, a truck with a hydraulic lift on the back was traveling east on Interstate 690 when the lift unexpectedly raised and slammed into a pedestrian bridge, said Trooper Jim Simpson, a state police spokesman.
The hydraulic lift was torn off the truck and several large pieces of concrete broke away from the bridge, smashing into a Buick Rendezvous sport utility vehicle that was traveling behind the truck.
The crash, which occurred around 11 a.m., injured all seven people in the SUV, Simpson said, and forced rescuers to cut off the roof of the vehicle to extricate the victims.
The passengers, four adults and three children from Webster, N.Y., were traveling to the State Fair, state police said.
The two people in the front seats - driver Alan Zimmer, 37, and his 38-year-old wife, Jennifer - were critically injured. Jennifer Zimmer was airlifted to a Syracuse hospital, state police said.
The other passengers in the Buick were identified as: David Delano, 66; Mary Ann Delano, 63; Nicholas Zimmer, 11; Alicia Zimmer, 7; and Jonathan Zimmer, 5.
They were transported to hospitals by ambulance, as was the truck driver, 41-year-old Shawn Sanford of Syracuse, Simpson said.
Dr. Mike Loeb, a second-year medical resident at a central New York hospital, said he helped treat the victims at the scene, and they included a mother and father, a grandmother and grandfather and three children from the same family.
The lift truck is owned by Robinson Rolloff of Auburn.
The eastbound lanes of I-690 - an interstate that runs through Syracuse and its western suburbs - were closed between Exit 5 and Exit 6 until further notice.
State Department of Transportation officials said two cranes were being brought to the scene to begin preparations to remove the damaged bridge, which was deemed unsafe after the accident.
Officials said they expected the bridge would be down by Friday morning.
Nobody was crossing the bridge when it was hit, DOT spokesman Josh Ribakova said.
The hydraulic lift was torn off the truck and several large pieces of concrete broke away from the bridge, smashing into a Buick Rendezvous sport utility vehicle that was traveling behind the truck.
The crash, which occurred around 11 a.m., injured all seven people in the SUV, Simpson said, and forced rescuers to cut off the roof of the vehicle to extricate the victims.
The passengers, four adults and three children from Webster, N.Y., were traveling to the State Fair, state police said.
The two people in the front seats - driver Alan Zimmer, 37, and his 38-year-old wife, Jennifer - were critically injured. Jennifer Zimmer was airlifted to a Syracuse hospital, state police said.
The other passengers in the Buick were identified as: David Delano, 66; Mary Ann Delano, 63; Nicholas Zimmer, 11; Alicia Zimmer, 7; and Jonathan Zimmer, 5.
They were transported to hospitals by ambulance, as was the truck driver, 41-year-old Shawn Sanford of Syracuse, Simpson said.
Dr. Mike Loeb, a second-year medical resident at a central New York hospital, said he helped treat the victims at the scene, and they included a mother and father, a grandmother and grandfather and three children from the same family.
The lift truck is owned by Robinson Rolloff of Auburn.
The eastbound lanes of I-690 - an interstate that runs through Syracuse and its western suburbs - were closed between Exit 5 and Exit 6 until further notice.
State Department of Transportation officials said two cranes were being brought to the scene to begin preparations to remove the damaged bridge, which was deemed unsafe after the accident.
Officials said they expected the bridge would be down by Friday morning.
Nobody was crossing the bridge when it was hit, DOT spokesman Josh Ribakova said.
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