2 adults, 2 children hospitalized following vehicle crash in Lowell
LOWELL >> A two-vehicle crash at the intersection of West Sixth and Coburn streets sent four people, including two children, to hospitals on Tuesday.
Lowell Police Deputy Superintendent Mark Leblanc said a man who was operating one vehicle, along with the two children passengers, were initially transported to a local hospital. The man was then flown, by medical helicopter, to a Boston-area hospital for further treatment.
Leblanc said the two children were also subsequently taken by ground transport to Boston-area hospitals for treatment.
The man who was operating the second vehicle was taken to a local hospital for treatment, according to Leblanc.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Lowell Police Department’s Accident Reconstruction Unit.
Reports of the crash came in an emergency radio broadcast at about 4:30 p.m.
The thunderous collision of the two vehicles caused neighborhood residents to rush out of their homes to investigate the source of the sound.
Rebecca Couture said she was inside her home on Coburn Street, approximately 300 feet from the intersection of Coburn and West Sixth streets, when she heard the crash. When asked to describe the sound, she forcefully punches a fist into the palm of her hand.
“Bang,” Couture said. “Ridiculous. I knew it was an accident.”
Nadine Smith, who lives on Jewett Street, situated around the corner from the intersection, described the sound of the wreck as simply “terrible.”
“You heard someone trying to stop and then you heard the impact,” Smith said.
When they arrived at the crash site, Couture and Smith said they saw the driver of a Toyota Corolla unresponsive and slumped over inside the vehicle. He was suffering from a visible head injury, which Smith described as a “giant gash.”
A man who wished to remain anonymous said he was barefoot when he bolted from his home on West Sixth Street after hearing the violent collision. The man said he unsuccessfully attempted to get the driver of the Toyota to regain consciousness.
“I just held onto him until firefighters arrived on scene,” the man said. “It didn’t look well. You just pray that he makes it.”
The two children were in the backseat of the Toyota, including one who was in a car seat. Other neighbors removed them from the vehicle. Smith and Couture said the child who had been sitting in the car seat appeared to be in and out of consciousness before being taken away by ambulance.
After the wreck, the driver of the second vehicle, a Chrysler Town & Country, was walking around at the crash site, according to witnesses. They said he began crying at one point, before getting into an ambulance.
The Toyota suffered substantial damage to the entirety of its passenger side. Patches of blood could be seen inside the vehicle.
The Chrysler had extensive front-end damage.
An evidence placard from the Lowell Police was used to mark a single skid mark, approximately three feet long, in the middle of the intersection.
Smith and Couture, as well as Coburn Street resident Glenda Murphy, noted the brutal wreck is no surprise to them.
“This is a bad corner,” Couture said.
“Pretty bad street,” added Murphy.
They said drivers will often speed up and down Coburn Street, while also ignoring the four-way stop at its intersection with West Sixth Street.
“It’s just not safe over here,” Smith said.
Police were forced to shut down the intersection while the department’s Accident Reconstruction Unit investigated the scene. The intersection was reopened at approximately 7 p.m.
Follow Aaron Curtis on Twitter @aselahcurtis