Tractor Trailer Crash Causes Fuel Spill, Injury on Route 9

The following is from a Putnam County Sheriff's Department press release: A Cold Spring resident was badly injured in an automobile crash Thursday on U.S. Route 9 in Philipstown. The accident caused the closure of the highway for hours.

According to preliminary accounts, Mr. Richard A. Turner, aged 48, of Cold Spring, was driving a 1997 Chevrolet sedan southbound on Route 9 yesterday morning when his vehicle reportedly crossed over a double-yellow line and into the northbound lane and collided with a northbound tractor-trailer operated by Mr. Milton P. Albarracin of Peekskill.  The crash occurred at about 10:45 a.m., just south of the intersection with N.Y. Route 301.  

The impact of the crash pinned Turner in his car, and he had to be extricated by volunteer firefighters from the North Highlands Fire Department.  He was transported by a Philipstown Ambulance to a landing area nearby, where a New York State Police helicopter airlifted him to the Westchester Medical Center with a suspected fractured pelvis and broken leg.  Albarracin was not injured.

The collision ruptured the fuel tanks of the tractor-trailer, causing more than an estimated 100 gallons of diesel fuel to spill onto the roadway.  A Putnam County Hazardous Materials Response Team and a New York State HazMat Team responded to the scene for clean-up operations. 

State Environmental Conservation police officers and Cold Spring Village police assisted sheriff’s deputies at the scene. The crash and ensuing fuel clean-up caused a complete closure of Route 9 from the time of the accident until approximately 2:00 P.M., a period of just over three hours.