BY JOSEPH KELLARD
The accident, at the intersection of Lawson Boulevard and Bayside Avenue, ended when the vehicles landed alongside each other in a relatively empty Long Island Rail Road parking lot at about 5:10 p.m. July 15.
"It was a major trauma," Lynch said. "It was one of the hardest hits I've ever seen, because the body of the cab was knocked off the chassis rail. That's how hard the hit was."
The cab driver, Sansone Donata of Cassville, who had no passengers in his car, was trapped in his seat and had to be cut out by a team of firefighters, Squad 245, the OFD's new extrication rescue unit. A Nassau County police ambulance transported Donata to South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, where he was listed in guarded condition, a hospital spokesperson said on Monday.
"The rescue workers started immediate life support care before they even got him into an ambulance, because his condition was very serious," said Lynch. "His breathing was not adequate, so they ventilated him by artificial means with a valve mask."
The driver of the SUV, Shane McCaffrey, 19, of Valley Stream, and a passenger, a boy in his early teens, were listed in serious but not critical condition, Lynch said. McCaffrey was transported to Mercy Hospital and the minor to Winthrop Hospital, both by ambulances from the OFD's Rescue Company.
The detective investigating the accident was unavailable for comment on Monday, but Lynch said it was difficult to determine what caused the accident. He noted that skid marks leading toward the parking lot indicated that one of the vehicles was headed southbound.
A supervisor at Frank's Taxi service, based just a block from the accident scene on Lawson Boulevard, was unavailable for comment.
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
