Physicians on scene aid victims of I-79 crashes in Laboratory
The driver of this car had to be pulled from his vehicle when it caught fire after rear-ending and going under a camper on Interstate 79 south near the Laboratory exit Wednesday afternoon.
The driver of this car had to be pulled from his vehicle when it caught fire after rear-ending and going under a camper on Interstate 79 south near the Laboratory exit.
Two physicians were immediately on scene assisting victims in back-to-back collisions Wednesday on Interstate 79 in Amwell Township as rescue workers pulled a critically injured man from his car.
State police said a trooper was among those who worked to free the man from his car, which caught fire after it rear-ended a camper about 1:45 p.m. on I-79 south just beyond the Laboratory interchange.
“They were very lucky,” said one of the physicians, Lisa Alister, who was a passenger in the truck hauling the new camper making its first trip.
“There were a lot of the right people here at the right situation,” said Alister, of Meadville.
Police said her husband, James Alister, was driving the truck and slowed to avoid running over a woman who was thrown from a motorcycle onto the highway. The injured woman’s husband said his motorcycle clipped a tanker truck as both vehicles were slowing in traffic.
Police said the car then rear-ended the camper and became wedged under it when traffic came to a halt because of the crash involving the motorcycle.
Lisa Alister said she ran to assist the woman, who was seriously injured and complaining about being unable to move an arm.
The other physician was traveling behind the crash, as were several other local rescue workers. Lisa Alister said several truckers with fire extinguishers also came to the assistance of the man in the car, lifting up the camper to remove some of the pressure from his body.
“I got out to help her and turned around and saw the car hit my (camper)” Lisa Alister said. She was also traveling with her two young children, who were not injured.
The two injured people were flown by helicopter from the crash site to a Pittsburgh hospital.
Police did not immediately identify the victims.
The crash caused heavy traffic backups on Interstate 79 south and the section of Interstate 70 between the north and south junctions of I-79.