Jeanette DeForge
MassLive.com, Springfield, Mass.
HOLYOKE, Mass. — A driver plowed into the back of a police cruiser which then struck a firefighter while the two were responding to a tractor-trailer truck fire on Interstate-91 Sunday afternoon.
The driver, the West Springfield firefighter and the state trooper, who was in the cruiser when it was struck, were all brought to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield with injuries that are not considered life-threatening. Massachusetts State Police officials said.
The crash and the fire caused the entire southbound side of the highway to be closed for at least an hour. Several northbound lanes were also closed during the incident, police said.
State police and the West Springfield and Holyoke Fire departments had responded to a tractor-trailer truck that caught fire at about 12:15 p.m. near Exit 14. No one was injured in the original incident, police said.
While they were working at the scene, a driver traveling northbound hit the cruiser at about 12:45 p.m., police said.
“The force of the crash pushed the cruiser into a Holyoke firefighter who was at the scene, on foot attending to the fire,” police said.
The crash is under investigation by the Massachusetts State Police. No charges were immediately issued, police said.
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