Bridgeport Man Killed

In South Main Street Accident

By Andrew Gorosko

A Bridgeport man died of injuries that he suffered in a two-vehicle accident on the afternoon of Sunday, January 23, when the compact car that he was driving on South Main Street collided with a raised snowplow mounted on the front end of an oncoming pickup truck.

Dead is Oscar Espinal, 36, of 328 Pacific Street, Bridgeport. A spokeswoman for the chief state medical examiner’s office said that an autopsy indicated that Mr Espinal died from blunt-force head and neck trauma.

Police patrol Officer William Hull investigated the accident, which occurred about 4:16 pm on South Main Street at its intersection with Greenbriar Lane.

The police investigation into the crash closed a section of South Main Street to traffic for several hours. Police detoured traffic away from the accident scene.

Mr Espinal was driving a 1990 Honda Accord sedan northward on South Main Street, when the vehicle started to slide on the snow-covered roadway and entered the southbound lane, police said. As the Honda entered the southbound lane, it turned sideways, so that its right side was facing oncoming southbound traffic.

The Honda then collided with a snowplow that was mounted on the front end of a southbound 1990 Chevrolet GMT-400 pickup truck driven by Carlos Rodriguez, 36, of 161 South Street, Danbury, police said. The snowplow was in the “raised” position at the time of the accident and was not plowing the road, police said. Mr Rodriguez owns the pickup truck.

In the impact, the raised snowplow blade entered the interior of the Honda. There were no passengers in either vehicle. Both vehicles were totaled in the accident.

Newtown Hook & Ladder and Botsford firefighters went to the accident, as did local ambulance and paramedic staffers.

The ambulance corps transported Mr Espinal to Danbury Hospital where he was later pronounced dead, police said.

Ambulance personnel transported Mr Rodriguez to the hospital, were he was treated for head, neck, back, and hand injuries, police said.

Police are continuing their investigation into the accident and ask anyone witnessed the crash to contact them at 426-5841.