The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) says the woman injured in Friday morning’s vehicle-pedestrian accident is being listed as stable this morning.
She was injured when hit by an eastbound truck just before 9:30 a.m. near the Blackhead Road overpass.
The woman was taken to the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s in what was said to be critical condition at the time.
The accident led to a second motor vehicle collision in the westbound lane at around 9:45 a.m. It appears the driver of a Ford Mustang had stopped her car in the passing lane of in order to help at the scene of the original collision and speak with officers at the scene about what she had witnessed.
An SUV also travelling west apparently failed to see the car and rammed it from behind sending it barrel-rolling at least four times along Pitts Memorial and striking another vehicle on the inside lane in the process and finally came to rest against a parked RNC cruiser stopped at the scene from the first incident.
The RNC officers’ quick action got the female driver safely out of her SUV. The vehicle appeared to begin smoking so an RNC patrol officer retrieved a fire extinguisher from his cruiser to spray on the vehicle while a St. John’s Regional Fire Department fire prevention division member travelling westbound, also assisted the officers with her fire extinguisher.
All four vehicles were extensively damaged.
The SUV driver was also taken to hospital for treatment.
All lanes in and out of St. John’s both East and West from the Kilbride exit into the downtown were closed for nearly five hours while the RNC completed its investigation of the scene. Further investigation continues into both incidents.
Anyone with additional information is asked to call the RNC at 729-8000 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
