Collision Topples Gantry On NY State Thruway In Rockland

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — A series of collisions at 2 a.m. Friday on the New York State Thruway in Rockland County caused a traffic gantry to fall across all the northbound lanes.

State police said at 2:08 a.m., Derk G. Long was southbound on I-87 in a 2012 Nissan when he struck the guide rail and his car became disabled in the center lane near exit 14.

The Nissan was unoccupied when Edgardo Fernandez Pimente, operating a commercial tractor trailer hauling plastic bottles, struck it. The tractor trailer overturned. It struck the gantry pole, which caused the gantry to fall across the northbound lanes, police said.

About 10 gallons of motor oil were spilled which was mitigated by Thruway Maintenance.

Long, a 69-year-old Bronx resident, was ticketed, police said. Pimente, 43, was transported to Montefiore Nyack Hospital for arm pain.

The crash and cleanup snarled traffic on the Thruway for hours before dawn.