Monday afternoon crash also snarls traffic for hours
By: Jack Baney
A Pennsylvania man was killed shortly after 3 p.m. Monday when his car collided with a
truck on Route 206 by Old Somerville Road.
The man, later identified as Selig L. Smiler, 62, of Downingtown, Pa., was traveling south on Route 206 when his white, Park Avenue Buick veered into the northbound lane and collided with a white truck traveling
north on the road, according to witnesses. The accident killed Mr. Smiler instantly but did not seriously injure the truck driver, witnesses said.
The Buick’s left side was demolished and its debris littered Route 206 in
the hours after the accident. Traffic remained disrupted into the evening
Monday.
Though the accident occurred by the Old Somerville intersection, a witness
said the Buick was not attempting to make a turn onto Old Somerville when
it veered into the northbound lane.
"I believe it had already committed to 206 — staying on 206," said Julie
Kaufman of Old Somerville Road, who was driving behind the truck when the
accident occurred. "It looked like it just, for whatever reason, jerked up,
turned onto the northbound lane, and he tried to compensate and get back
into his lane, but it was too late."
Another eyewitness, Marco
Escolar of Willow Road, whose car was nearly struck by the truck after the
collision, said, "I was pretty far (from the Buick), so I don’t know if it was trying to go
around something or maybe he just lost control of the car."
After the Buick veered into the wrong lane, the truck driver hit his breaks
and veered as far as he could to the right, said Ms. Kaufman. "The truck driver, in my mind, did everything he could to avoid it," she
said.
Mr. Escolar said the collision occurred around 3:17 p.m., though a rescue
worker on the scene said it happened around 3:05 p.m.
The collision was loud enough that it could be heard from Andrea Avenue,
said Katie Batten of Route 206.
"I heard tires screeching and a loud ‘boom,’" she said. "I knew it was an
accident — I didn’t know it was a major accident, because of the distance."
Ms. Kaufman said she was too startled by the sight of the collision to pay
attention to its noise. "I think a bomb could have gone off in that instant and I wouldn’t have
heard it," she said.
After the vehicles collided, the car made at least one, and possibly two,
360-degree spins while the truck traveled to its right at an angle, said
Mr. Escolar.
He said his vehicle was stopped behind the truck in the southbound lane of
Route 206, as he waited to make a left onto Old Somerville Road, when the
accident occurred.
Mr. Escolar and his passenger, Michael Alfaro, said they
were startled by the sight of the truck traveling toward them after the
collision.
"One minute we we’re just ready to go home, and the next you have this huge
truck coming toward you," said Mr. Escolar. "It was the last thing we
expected."
He was uncertain whether the truck actually hit his car. "It pretty much nicked us a little bit," said Mr. Escolar. "If it didn’t
hit us, it was really close."
After the accident, Mr. Alfaro called 9-1-1 from his cell phone while Ms.
Kaufman ran home to do the same. Ms. Batten said her mother had heard the
accident from her home and also made a 9-1-1 call.
Help arrived about 10 minutes after the accident, according to Mr. Escolar.
In the accident’s immediate aftermath, he said he tried to talk to Mr. Smiler. But the accident appeared to have killed the man on impact, Mr.
Escolar said.
"I kept asking him if he was all right, but there was no response." he
said. "He wasn’t moving."
The truck driver appeared to have escaped serious injury, Mr.
Escolar said. "He said he was banged up — his hands were bruised," he said. "He was able to
walk and talk."
Ms. Kaufman said of the truck driver, "I think he was more shaken up than anything. He was walking around — he looked visibly shaken."
Writing on the truck indicated that it is owned by a Cedar Grove company
called Shred-It.