By Anthony Rifilato
The first two-car accident, at about 1:40 p.m., occurred on Grand Avenue and Stratford Road, in front of the Fairview Shopping Center. According to a police officer at the scene, a white, early 1990s Nissan Maxima hit a blue caravan holding five passengers, including a 62-year-old woman, Dorothy Ucciardo, who was taken by ambulance to Mercy Medical Center with serious head injuries.
She was banged up pretty bad and got worse in the ambulance, said Baldwin Deputy Fire Chief Tom Brown.
Emergency crews removed the woman from the van in the middle of Grand Avenue. The van's left side was battered and emergency workers took out the entire back seat while the woman's family members looked on before climbing into the ambulance with her. They refused to comment at the scene.
The woman's two grandchildren were also injured with minor shoulder and chest pains, according to Jerry Brown, a Baldwin Fire Department spokesman who attended to the victims. Brown said the injuries could have been serious if they hadn't been wearing their seatbelts. The children were subsequently treated and released from Mercy, said Brown.
The Maxima carried five female passengers, several of whom were taken by the South Hempstead Fire Department to Mercy Medical Center after at first refusing treatment.
For the most part there were only minor injuries, said Tom Brown of the Maxima passengers, who ranged in age from 13 to 19 years old. The left front section of the Maxima looked as if it had been shaved off a bit, its hood askew. Neither driver was charged in the accident, said police.
Then in a strange twist, a call came over the radio just after 2 p.m. while crews had not even finished cleaning up the first mess. This time a couple was trapped in their overturned car on the corner of Milburn Avenue and Merrick Road. Most of the same rescue workers rushed to the second scene.
The intersection was cordoned off, while firefighters used the jaws of life to cut the hood off of a Mitsubishi Galant, which was overturned on its left side with the driver and a passenger still strapped in their belts.
The car flipped right on its side, said Jhaney Infante, an eyewitness to the second accident. The police got here fast.
I feel really sorry for the driver, said Steve Weick, an onlooker who said he's a volunteer fireman. They're strapped in there.
Donald Gavitte, 65, and Angelica Gavitte, 56, were placed on a stretcher after the entire roof of the gray car was sliced off. The man appeared to have minor scrapes on his legs, while the woman was fitted with a neck brace. Tom Brown said the injuries were minor and that seatbelts probably saved the couple's lives.
A Lynbrook ambulance pulled up to take the man away, while a South Nassau ambulance carried the woman away first. Both were taken to South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside.
The Mitsubishi was struck by a 1980s light-blue Buick, its front smashed and in the middle of Merrick. The driver of the Buick, John Duranty, 84, refused treatment. A green Dodge Neon was also involved in the accident, in what Infante said was an attempt to swerve and avoid the collision. The Neon driver, Michele Ramos, 23, was taken to South Nassau for observation, said officials.
Again, no one was charged, said police.
Then to top off the frantic hour, a fire alarm went off at a home 6 DeMott Avenue at around 2:30 p.m., and the Baldwin Fire Department sent over Hose Four, Ladder Two in response. Firefighters extinguished a small stove fire, started by food left in the oven. No one was injured, said Brown.
Brown had this to say about the simultaneous emergency calls, It was kind of strange, considering how bright and sunny it was. Definitely an unusual day.
