By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com
CONNEAUT — A collision between two tractor-trailer trucks Tuesday night closed several miles of westbound Interstate 90 for nearly eight hours Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, police and firefighters said.
The 83-year-old driver of the rig that did the damage, Gordon Alexander of Tioga, Pa., had to be freed from the wreckage and spent the night at UH Conneaut Medical Center, said Conneaut Police Sgt. Randy Poore. He was cited for assured clear distance and not having an operator’s license, Poore said.
Alexander’s son, Bruce, of Middlebry Center, Pa., was treated at CMC and released, Poore said. The driver of the other truck, Steven Ciarlo of Wellsboro, Pa., was not injured, police said.
“It’s hard to believe nobody was more seriously injured,” Poore said.
The accident, witnessed by a Conneaut police officer, occurred at 8:14 p.m., Tuesday, Poore said. Westbound traffic had come to a halt near the Conneaut-Kingsville Township line because of a car fire just inside the township border, according to reports. Ciarlo’s truck was stopped when it was struck from behind by the rig driven by Gordon Alexander, Poore said.
The Conneaut officer was at the scene to keep an eye on the traffic tie-up and saw the truck approach from the east, Poore said. After impact, Alexander’s rig veered into the median, police said.
Gordon Alexander became trapped when the truck’s load of 10 rolls of paper — each weighing 4,900 pounds — shifted into the cab, firefighters said. Bruce Alexander was outside the truck when firefighters arrived, according to reports.
The impact spread diesel fuel everywhere, and emergency personnel responding to the scene had to dodge burning debris that littered the highway, firefighters said. “There was a debris field from the point of impact extending into the median,” Poore said.
Employees of Kingsville Towing, located at Route 193 and I-90, worked hard to clean the highway, Poore said. The westbound lanes reopened at 3:44 a.m. Wednesday, he said.
Traffic was rerouted off the lanes at Route 7 in Conneaut. As a result, a parade of trucks rumbled through Conneaut and North Kingsville on Route 20 before returning to the freeway via Route 193.
A few motorists ignored officers who were funneling traffic off the freeway, only to have to turn around a short distance away, Poore said. The driver of a passenger vehicle was cited after he swerved around emergency vehicles in an attempt to avoid the detour, he said.
