Windham News : accident

Two injured in Windham school bus crash

Salem Editor — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:46:00 GMT

After dropping off students at Windham Center School, a bus driver drifted into oncoming traffic on Lowell Road and struck an SUV on Monday, Nov. 23, police said.

The First Student bus driver, Lisa Alnfari, 40, of Hudson was taken to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center and motorist Erin Croteau, 35, of Windham was transported to Parkland Medical Center – both with non-life-threatening injuries – after emergency responders arrived on scene about 7:40 a.m., fire officials said.

There were no children on the bus, officials said.

While police are calling the accident more of a “glancing blow” than a head-on collision, Fire Chief Thomas McPherson said both vehicles sustained moderate damage. Authorities were forced to use the Jaws of Life to free Croteau from her vehicle, he said.

A spokesman for First Student said the company is working closely with local authorities and conducting their own internal investigation of the accident. Though Alnfari has had a clean record since coming to the company in 2002, she is suspended until the investigation is complete.

– Derrick Perkins

Eight injured in Windham school bus crash

Salem Editor — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:51:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

A driver who police say was distracted plowed his pickup truck into the rear of a school bus as it was letting off a student last week. Eight people were sent to local hospitals with non-lifethreatening injuries.

Carrying nine Windham students from Salem High School, the small bus was stopped on Route 111 near the intersection of Killdeer Road when a black Ford F- 350 Superduty driven by Glenn Maynard, 56, of Hudson struck from behind at 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 14, school and police officials said.

Four students were transported to Parkland Medical Center, Fire Chief Thomas McPherson said. The motorist and two other students were transported to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center while the bus driver, Andrea Maines, 61, of Salem was taken to Holy Family Hospital.

Three students refused treatment and were released to their parents, officials said. Officers described the injuries as typical of a rear-end accident and said the hospitalizations were a precaution. Authorities are not releasing the names of those students involved.

Mark Raad, 16, was standing up to leave the bus as it came to a stop in front of his 138 Haverhill Road when the pickup truck struck, he said. Raad was not injured.

“As I got up I flew forward,” said Raad, a junior at Salem High. “I have no idea (what happened next). Everything was white, dusty and glass was everywhere. I walked off the bus.”

His father, Joseph, heard the collision and knowing his son was due home, began running down his driveway.

“Usually, I’m not waiting for him, but I ran screaming, ‘Mark, Mark, are you OK?’ It was terrible, I ran to the bus,” he said. “Thank God he’s OK ... I feel good now.”

Neighbors described the same scene, saying it sounded like a bomb had gone off in the street.

“It made a hell of a noise,” said Phil Park.

“If it had been a car, those people would all be dead,” said Gerry Lavigne, standing in his front yard only a few feet away from the wreck.

Frank Bass, Windham’s superintendent, said the students were juniors and seniors still attending Salem High.

Though Windham opened a new high school to freshmen and sophomore students earlier this year, upperclassmen are graduating with their Salem classmates.

“The bus driver did everything he could,” Bass said. “This underscores the point that when driving pay attention to the road.”

The crash remains under investigation, though authorities have rule out alcohol or excessive speed as factors.

Man hurt in cycle crash

Salem Editor — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:12:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

The operator of a motorcycle sustained serious injuries after a car struck him from behind while he was attempting a left turn at Rockingham Cycles on Route 28 on Sept. 4, authorities said.

According to Police Chief Gerald Lewis, Douglas Magliozzi, 56, of Atkinson was propelled from his motorcycle and onto the pavement around 1:42 p.m., suffering wounds to his head and leg. While drugs or alcohol do not appear to be a factor in the crash, Lewis said the operator of the Chevrolet Malibu, Michael Schneiderat, 40, of Massachusetts did not make any effort to stop or brake before plowing into the rear of the motorcycle and driving over it.

Authorities said the motorcyclist was transported to Parkland Medical Center and flown by helicopter to a Boston hospital.

He was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, according to police.

Schneiderat, the sole occupant of his vehicle, was uninjured in the collision. Though the accident remains under investigation, Lewis said charges will likely be forthcoming.

Route 28 was temporarily closed between Bissell Camp Road and Flat Rock Road while authorities investigated the scene.

Windham police received assistance from the Windham Fire Department and the New Hampshire State Police.

Marine dies in car crash

Salem Editor — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:19:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Waiting for his body to return to the Granite State, the family of Cpl. Edmund Vandecasteele IV remembers him as a cheerful and hardworking young man who had dreamed of being a Marine since age 12.

Vandecasteele, 22, an ammunition technician with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division stationed at Camp Pendleton in California, died in a car crash on Aug. 1. According to authorities, Vandecasteele was sitting in the front passenger seat of a 2003 Ford Mustang when it struck a tree on Avenida Vista Montana, roughly four miles away from his base in San Clemente, at about 2:15 a.m.

“We’re going through the usual. It doesn’t seem real,” said Lisa Desrosiers, Vandecasteele’s mother. “He never chose the easy route. He pushed himself to the limit. He chose the Marine Corps over every other military branch because he thought it would be the biggest challenge. He was sad to leave boot camp.”

According to Desrosiers, Vandecasteele, a member of Salem High School’s Class of 2006, entered the Marine Corps delayed entry program before he turned 18 and trained with his recruiter every weekend in the lead up to his departure for boot camp in the September following his graduation.

He spent the next two years stationed in Okinawa, during which his reputation as “unbreakable” was cemented, Desrosiers said. Delivering medical and food supplies to other Marines in the midst of a typhoon, Vandecasteele had a small piece of glass lodged in his neck after a window blew out. A larger piece of glass, he later told his mother, hit his flak vest, leaving him unharmed.

Desrosiers said her son had not decided whether to remain in the military after his four-year enlistment was finished, but had always wanted to join the Marine Corps reconnaissance battalion more than anything else. He arrived at Camp Pendleton in April of this year.

“There are two things on his wall,” she said yesterday, motioning upstairs from where she sat in her kitchen yesterday, surrounded by friends and family. “The recon Marine poster and the American flag. That’s it. No pictures, no nothing.”

Shana Vandecasteele said the loss of her older brother had been devastating to her and the rest of the family, but she remembered him as funny, outgoing and protective of his little sister.

“I had the honor of being a freshman when he was a senior, and one day he saw me talking to a guy, came over, picked me up and threw me over his shoulder and said, ‘We’re leaving,’” she said with a laugh. “He was not shy at all. If you said ‘hi’ he would just start talking. He was always protective of me. Before he went to boot camp he went to every one of his friends and told them to look after me.”

John Bergeron was one of those friends. He and Vandecasteele grew up together in nearby Salem. He described Vandecasteele as a loyal friend, proud Marine and the one person “you could call up and rely on.”

“I don’t think anyone ever said anything negative about him,” he said.

According to Desrosiers, the family does not yet know when his body will be flown back to New Hampshire, but Douglas and Johnson Funeral Home will arrange his services.

She thanked the Marine Corps for being incredibly supportive in the days since Vandecasteele’s death.

“He loved their belief in honor and their code,” Desrosiers said. “He had just got promoted to corporal ... He was so excited he had earned the red stripes on his trousers, known as the blood stripes. It’s something you earn as a corporal. But he never got the chance to see them on his trousers.”

Windham officer struck while directing traffic

Salem Editor — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:04:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

For the second time in just a few months, a Windham police officer was struck by a vehicle while directing traffic in the construction area along Route 111.

Officer Bryan Smith was hit in the back by the driver’s side mirror of a pickup truck when he apparently got lost in the truck’s blind spot, said Windham Police Chief Gerald Lewis.

“The driver of the truck that hit him lost sight of officer Smith with the a-pillar on the truck,” said Lewis, who described the “a-pillar” as being the edge of the window frame. “That piece of the truck obscured the officer as (the driver) was making the turn onto 111, and his mirror caught the officer in the back.”

Smith and another officer were directing traffic at the intersection of Range Road and Route 111 when the accident happened at around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 11. The driver of the truck was making a left turn from Range Road onto Route 111. Smith was directing eastbound traffic on Range Road and the other officer was facilitating turns onto Route 111. The driver was following the directions of the other officer to make the turn when his view of Smith was obscured, Lewis explained.

The driver is not being charged with anything.

“The driver was paying attention. He was following the direction of another officer, he just happened to lose that officer as he was making the turn in his blind spot,” Lewis said.

Smith suffered a bruised back and some scrapes and was taken to Parkland Medical Center for evaluation.

Lewis said the need to keep the road open during the Route 111 construction work has made navigating the area especially difficult for drivers. The driving paths are often rerouted and narrowed to allow for better management of the traffic flow, and officers are put in close proximity to the passing vehicles.

“It’s a very involved, largescale construction project,” said Lewis. “It’s a busy intersection that handles a significant amount of traffic on a daily basis, and we do know that the traffic patterns are changing somewhat regularly. That’s kind of the nature of the beast.”

Lewis said he meets regularly with the project’s contractor to discuss coming changes in the traffic patterns so detail officers can adjust.

This incident is different from the one a couple of months ago, when officer Greg Malisos was directing traffic and had to jump out of the way of an oncoming vehicle, the driver of which veered out of his lane and was not paying attention, Lewis said. That driver was charged with driving negligently.

“We are certainly aware that there’s only so much you can do,” Lewis said. “Fortunately, the project is coming to an end, and it should be done very soon.”

The roadwork in that area will be completed in the next couple of months, Lewis said.

Emergency detours in Windham will help if I-93 closes

Salem Editor — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:57:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

At least one local police chief has hailed the permanent blue emergency detour signs marking alternative routes around Interstate 93 as a “significant benefit.”

Windham Police Chief Gerald Lewis said the newly placed road signs gave motorists, local drivers and his department a serious advantage should the interstate close in the event of an emergency.

“If we get up on 93 or Exit 3 for a situation where the road has to be closed, when we get those people off the road they’re immediately met with a detour route,” he said. “As it stood before the signs, getting off the highway, (motorists had) to figure it out on their own.”

In the past, according to Lewis, it had not always been possible for police officers or other town officials to have detour signs already in place for drivers coming off the highway during an emergency. Having a permanent route marked by signs has given his department an added advantage in dealing with those types of situations, he said.

“It makes it easier in the fact that we don’t have to worry about explaining one on one to motorists how to circumnavigate a route or spend staff hours setting up detour signs. The signs are already in place,” Lewis said. “It eliminates one very important task because its already in place. (The signs) are a tremendous benefit for us.”

Created as part of the project to widen and rebuild the swath of I-93 from the Massachusetts border to Manchester, the alternative routes form a planned detour in the event an emergency shuts down the highway. According to the project manager for the I-93 project, Peter Stamnas, the newly implemented alternative route system for the interstate has given local police, fire and public works departments a better handle on managing highway emergencies in the future.

“The purpose is to provide appropriate routes in case of diversion,” said Stamnas, of the state Department of Transportation. “They’re a part of our incident management plan for Interstate 93.”

Stamnas coordinated with local police, fire and public works departments – as part of a steering committee – to create the most effective emergency management plan possible for the highway. As part of that management plan, municipalities were asked to draw up permanent detour routes for motorists should an emergency require the closure of I-93.

Though the amount of traffic the alternative routes could bring to local roads – especially Route 111 – and the impact that may have on the emergency response times of the department remains a concern for Lewis, he said the advantages outweighed any potential negatives.

“We’re certainly going to have to be extra cautious and the fact that you have vehicles that are unfamiliar with the route – they may want to turn around, may make unannounced turns – we’ll have to be cognizant of that,” he said. “It’s going to push the traffic off onto the local roads, but that’s going to happen anyway.”

The only real problem with the blue alternative route signs – which Stamnas compared to the hurricane evacuation route signs in Florida – has been their placement. In some cases, residents have complained the signs have blocked their view at a turn, but they have not garnered any noticeable interest from residents.

“They signs are rather self-explanatory,” Lewis said.

As only one part of a larger plan to better manage emergency situations on I-93, Stamnas has also pointed to a number of other strategies designed to facilitate traffic congestion on the highway. Smart work zones, extra emergency accesses, and electronic message boards with variable messages are all ways to keep motorists on track, Stamnas said.

According to Lewis, the alternative routes passed their first real test on Aug. 25 when a van collided with a tractor-trailer during rush hour just before Exit 1 northbound on I-93 in Salem.

With the highway closed while rescue teams attempted to extricate the van’s driver over the course of about a half an hour, motorists began coming up Route 28 and getting back onto the highway at Exit 2 in Salem and Exit 3 in Windham.

He called the alternative routes an “absolute” success so far.

Windham marine hurt in crash five days after return from Iraq

Salem Editor — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:13:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELLWindham

Windham police are still searching for the driver of a large red SUV who rearended a 22- year-old Windham Marine who just returned from two years of active duty in Iraq. He’d just returned home for good five days prior to the accident, having sustained no injuries while there.

Mike Tierney, of 4 Blueberry Road, was driving to a friend’s house at around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10, when someone hit him from behind as he waited to take a left onto Marblehead Road from Route 111A.

“I heard brakes lock up behind me,” said Tierney, adding he had no time to react to the sound. “It just happened so fast.”

Tierney said he was wearing a helmet at the time. He doesn’t remember whether he was thrown from his Honda CRV street bike or not.

Tierney suffered a broken leg and will be in a splint for a couple of months.

Tierney and a witness described the vehicle as a red or maroon SUV, about as large as a Ford Bronco, but no leads have developed.

The witness who saw the accident attempted to chase the hit-and-run driver, said Windham Police Chief Gerald Lewis, but it was traveling too fast to tail.

“At this point, it’s just speculation. We know that he hit him and fled,” said Lewis.

Neither Tierney nor the witness who chased the fleeing SUV saw the driver clearly enough to describe him or her, and neither was able to get a license plate number, Lewis said.

Dennis Tierney, Mike’s father, said police showed his son a photo depicting the type of vehicle they thought might have been used by the driver, which Mike Tierney identified. However, the witness who chased the car said the one in the photo was not the car he saw hit Tierney and subsequently chased.

“I’d say the witness had a better view,” said Tierney.

Tierney said he was stationed in the cities of Fallujah and Balad in Iraq, serving in the infantry unit for 22 months before returning home earlier this month.

Tierney said he’d ask the person who hit him why he would take his freedom away after Tierney had fought for the country’s freedom.

“What I want to say I can’t say on television or in the paper,” Tierney said.

Anyone with information on the accident is asked to call the Windham Police Department at 434-5577.

FedEx driver is charged, 27 children unhurt in collision

Salem Editor — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:59:00 GMT

By Darrell Halen

The driver of a FedEx truck that collided with a school bus carrying 27 middle school students has been charged with failing to keep on the right side of the road.

None of the Windham Middle School students was injured when the collision occurred on Cristy Road around 2:40 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 2. But the crash sent both drivers to the hospital for injuries.

Police Capt. Patrick Yatesevich said the FedEx driver, Dominic Mancino, was charged with failure to keep right.

The charge is a violation and carries a fine of $75. Mancino is not required to appear in court but must answer a summons through the New Hampshire Department of Motor Vehicles within 30 days, according to Yatsevich. Mancino was issued the summons on Jan. 7 by officer Bryan Smith.

Mancino, of 15 Meadow Drive, Goffstown, suffered lower leg injuries. He was semi-concious when rescue workers arrived but became more alert as he was treated, said Fire Chief Thomas McPherson.

The bus driver, Thomas Murray, of 5 Rainstree, Londonderry, suffered lacerations and abrasions to his left hand and face. He was treated at Parkland Medical Center in Derry.

The severity of the damage from the accident was something one would expect to see on an accident occurring on a highway or major road, McPherson said.

“To see it on a secondary street was pretty amazing,” McPherson said. “Obviously, it could have been worse.”

McPherson credited the students with staying calm on the bus after the accident. Another bus brought them back to school where they were released to family members.

Windham police were assisted in their investigation of the collision by the New Hampshire Highway Patrol.