One Dead, 12 Injured in Gardner, Massachusetts Crash
The accident happened Tuesday morning when Rafael Garcia, 49, of Athol, pulled his station wagon into a four-way intersection on Route 2A and was broad-sided by a tractor-trailer carrying a load of gravel, police said.
The truck pushed Garcia's car into the Montachusett Area Regional Transport bus, which tipped over, shattering the windows. Gravel poured onto the passengers inside the bus.
Garcia was flown to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, where he was pronounced dead at 3:12 p.m., Gardner Police Sgt. Roger Wrigley said.
A state prison van that was parked behind a fence in a city lot was also hit. Shaun Tiago, an inmate at MCI Gardner, was in the van. He was treated for minor injuries at Heywood Hospital in Gardner and returned to prison, Wrigley said.
One of Garcia's passengers, Miguel Toledo, 55, of Leominster, was in critical condition at UMass Memorial. Two children who were in the back seat, ages 9 and 10, suffered minor injuries.
A firefighter who strained his back working to free the station wagon's occupants was treated for minor injuries.
The bus driver, Jean Paul Cormier, 39, of Templeton, was also treated at Heywood, Wrigley said. The truck driver, Jamie Breault, 41, of Athol, refused treatment.
A half-dozen people in the bus were taken to Heywood, where they all were treated and released, said Dr. Ellen Ray, and emergency room physician.
The cause of the crash was under investigation.
