A pickup truck and an SUV collided head-on in Amherst Monday night, sending four people to the hospital and causing extensive damage to both vehicles, according to police.
Three of the people involved who were riding together in the SUV are believed to be students at the University of Massachusetts, according to names provided by police that match the names of students enrolled at UMass; however that could not immediately be confirmed.
A Mitsubishi four-door driven by Brynne S. Goldberg, 22, of West Hartford, Conn., crossed the center line on North East Street to maneuver around a police cruiser that was parked at the side of the road where another vehicle had been pulled over, said Amherst Police Lt. Ronald A. Young.
While passing by the cruiser, Goldberg’s vehicle collided head-on with a Ford Ranger driven by James N. Broderick, 24, of Amherst, officials said.
Goldberg, Broderick and two passengers in Goldberg’s vehicle, Meredith Kirby, 21, of Lenox, Mass., and Alexandra Kelley, 20, of Milton, Mass., were all hospitalized as a result, police said.
Young referred questions regarding the extent of each person’s injuries and their current condition to hospital officials who could not immediately be reached for comment.
Police said Goldberg will likely be issued a citation for unsafe lane change.
A dog inside Broderick’s truck was not injured, officials said.
Matt Rocheleau can be reached at [email protected].
Ed • Jan 21, 2010 at 11:35 am
And the fact that there was a police car there – that the Amherst Police had perhaps made a bad choice in where to stop a vehicle – will not be part of the report.
Nor the fact that the driver well may have been blinded by the bright blue police lights. Some departments have night-time protocols of not turning absolutely everything on *because* they don’t want to blind drivers, but in Amherst, where we want to make sure everyone sees us, we don’t care….