DEERPARK – It was the evening after Christmas, and 12-year-old Neversink Drive resident Ayden and her mom Meghan had just finished dinner. Ayden’s dad was at work, and the two had been relaxing in the living room of their Town of Deerpark home when Meghan decided to briefly take the family dog out.
Meghan had been out for a couple of minutes when she saw headlights, and then heard a loud crash. The sound was caused by a pickup truck that had struck and crashed through the side of their house.
“I heard screaming, and realized it was my daughter that was screaming,” Meghan told Mid-Hudson News. “The house was dark. I went inside and assessed my daughter to be sure she was okay, and I called 9-1-1.”
The lights had gone out, but Meghan could see the hood of a vehicle completely inside her living room. It had stopped less than a foot away from where her daughter had been sitting on the couch playing a video game. It entered exactly where Meghan’s recliner chair had been and where she had been sitting just moments before taking her dog out.
“If the truck was a foot closer to the couch, or if I had been sitting in my chair, it could have been a whole different thing,” Meghan said. “The vehicle came through the living room wall, hit our wood stove – which fortunately was not on at the time — and pushed the wood stove into our solid Italian leather couch.
The couch was pushed to the other side of the living room, and it is the wood stove and couch that Meghan attributes to helping to save her daughter. Ayden was covered with debris and sustained cuts to her leg and feet from debris but was not struck by the vehicle.
Her daughter, dog and cats, were taken to the safety of Meghan’s car to wait for help. Her dad had also been alerted and was on his way home.
While in the house Meghan observed the hood of the driver’s cab in her living room, and the front end of the truck through the floor and in the basement. Due to the angle of the vehicle, she was unable to see inside the cab. However, upon arrival of emergency responders, a sole occupant of the truck, a male driver, was found to be trapped and seriously injured. His rescue became an intricate process undertaken from within the home. Due to serious structural damage in the house, a joint emergency response was called for.
(video: Mark Lieb, Rockland Video Productions)
Huguenot Fire Department Chief TJ Kalin said responders included fire, police, and ambulance crews from Huguenot, Cuddebackville, Westbrookville, Sparrowbush, Port Jervis, Monticello, Town of Deerpark and New York State Police, and Orange County’s Technical Rescue Team.
Part of tech team’s rescue mission is to locate, extricate, and provide medical treatment to victims trapped in collapsed structures, such as existed in this situation. The structure, upon lacking main beam supports, had to be secured and stabilized to safely reach, secure, and remove the pinned driver.
“The driver was responsive and talking, but had pain in his legs,” Kalin said. “It was intense and labor-intensive. It took more than two hours, but everyone did a great job, with great teamwork.”
The individual was airlifted to Westchester Hospital after being safely removed, treated, and secured for transport.
The residents, while dealing with the trauma of the accident, expressed their wish for the driver’s recovery and return to health.
“We don’t know anything about the driver or the accident, but I hope he’s okay. It’s a horrible thing that happened,” Meghan said.
Meghan said that while she has always worked hard to have decent things, she is not materialistic and is grateful for anything she has. This includes the help her family has received from other family members, friends, and the hometown community in which they were raised and remain.
“We lost everything on the day after Christmas and will be starting all over again, but we’re alive and safe. That’s all that matters in my eyes,” she said.
State Police have yet to release the condition of the driver and cause of the accident.
