NORTH ADAMS -- A hit-and-run accident involving three vehicles at River and Brown streets late Tuesday afternoon injured one woman and saw police chase and, shortly after, apprehend a driver at Houghton and Owens streets.
The driver, according to responder and North Adams Fire Department Lt. John Paciorek, struck a vehicle that had slowed to allow another to turn onto Brown Street, and then fled the scene, sideswiping a second vehicle in the process.
Names of the victims and driver who fled were not available as of press time, but according to Paciorek, first responders arrived on scene at roughly 4:30 p.m. to a "heavily damaged" Chevrolet Cobalt -- the injured woman's car, which had been pushed astride a city fire hydrant -- and another vehicle nearby that had also sustained damages, a Lexus SUV.
Paciorek said the Cobalt's passenger required extrication before being transported to North Adams Regional Hospital with "definitely not life-threatening injuries," while the Lexus' two passengers were unhurt and left the scene.
Referring to the Cobalt's passenger, Paciorek said:
"The girl's very fortunate she wasn't dealt a more serious injury. ... While we were in the process of extricating her from the Chevy Cobalt, we received a call from the police saying they'd located [the perpetrator.]"
Referring to the injured party, Paciorek said, "she complained of thumb, leg and back pain, but there were no obvious
The oncoming shift of firefighters covered the city while responders did their work, Paciorek said. The Cobalt's front and rear doors and additional structural steel needed to be removed in order to create a "very large opening" from which to extricate the victim, in case of back or spinal chord injury.
"Everything went smoothly," Paciorek said. "She was removed from the vehicle in a fairly short amount of time, but was very upset."
To reach Phil Demers, email pdemers@thetranscript.com.
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