Full Text:

Harrowing Accident In Dodgingtown

(with photo)

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Emergency service workers converged in Dodgingtown midday Tuesday after a man

who was driving a pickup truck around a steep curve on Dodgingtown Road lost

control of the vehicle and rolled over, becoming trapped upside down in the

truck.

Police said motorist Michael Mullens, 45, of Bethel was driving a 1988 Toyota

pickup truck westbound on Dodgingtown Road about 11:40 am when he failed to

negotiate a sharp right curve in the road, went out of control and flipped

over, coming to rest pointed eastbound on the westbound road shoulder.

The Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps transported Mr Mullen to Danbury

Hospital where he was treated for injuries and released, a hospital

spokeswoman said.

The flipped truck came to rest at the base of the hill across Dodgingtown Road

from George's Pizza and Restaurant. The accident occurred in the same area

where a gasoline tanker truck crashed and burned in October 1996, causing the

death of its driver, extensive property damage and gasoline contamination of

local soil and ground water.

A man who was driving by the pickup truck accident Tuesday soon after it

occurred stopped and lifted up the rear end of the flipped pickup truck with a

small earth loader he had been towing, thus helping emergency workers gain

access to Mr Mullen, police said.

Lew Belinsky, a Naugatuck excavating and landscaping contractor, said Thursday

he saw that Mr Mullens' head was pinned in an awkward position between the

truck seat and the roof of the truck, so he used his loader to raise the

truck, taking its weight off Mr Mullens' head.

"It was a life threatening situation. I didn't do anything heroic. I just

wanted to make sure things didn't get any worse for the guy," Mr Belinksy

said.

Dodgingtown, Newtown Hook and Ladder, and Hawleyville firefighters went to the

accident scene to work on Mr Mullens' extrication. He had become trapped

upside down in a crouched position in the driver's seat of the truck with his

seatbelt attached. Being strapped into the truck with the seatbelt kept him

from falling down onto the flipped interior roof of the truck cab, police

said.

Working in a drizzle, firefighters used a hydraulic tool to cut and pry the

driver's door away from the truck and gain access to Mr Mullens. Workers

placed blocks under the truck to prevent it from shifting. A wrecker crane was

used to stabilize the vehicle. Mr Mullen had been trapped in the truck for

about 40 minutes before being freed.

A group of bystanders watched from the restaurant's parking lot as police,

fire and ambulance crews worked on the extrication. Firefighters stood by

holding hoses charged with water in the event of a fire. Traffic in the area

was detoured away from the scene.

Police said the accident is under investigation.