By John C. O'Connell
The Standard Waste Services truck was headed to Oceanside, going eastbound on Sunrise when, according to the driver, Robert Lee of Jamaica, Queens, he made a hard left when he realized he wouldn't be able to stop at a traffic signal that had just turned red. Lee suffered only a small scratch on the little finger of his right hand. His co-worker, Robert McLeod, also of Jamaica, was uninjured.
The accident caused an injury to the shoulder of a woman in another vehicle, according to fire officials at the scene. She was taken to the hospital and her car was driven away by a relative, an official said.
"I'm just glad no one got badly hurt in this," Lee said as he watched his damaged truck lying incongruously on its side, with its smashed windshield and fluids leaking into the street.
It took over and hour for A&B Towing to pull the truck back on its wheels, with the help of a Village of Valley Stream front loader breaking the truck's fall and a larger Caterpillar loader lifting from the back.
Chief Joseph Garofalo, Chief Brian Howley and officers and firefighters of Rescue 1 and Engine 3 of the Valley Stream Fire Department, the County Fire Marshall's Office and Police Emergency Services Unit responded to the emergency.
