A Connecticut truck driver was arrested Saturday, June 19, in connection with a hit-and-run accident last week that injured a Massachusetts State Police lieutenant who had stopped to assist another tractor-trailer.
Police arrested Perry Livingston, 40, at his home in New Haven, Connecticut, and seized the tractor-trailer police say he was driving at the time of the mishap on Route 495 north in Hopkinton.
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Shortly after the collision, the MSP said on its Facebook page, "The lieutenant, who is assigned to the MSP Traffic Programs Section, was outside of his cruiser checking on another tractor-trailer that was stopped on the side of the road when the oncoming tractor-trailer struck him and his cruiser. The lieutenant suffered injuries to his arm and hands and was transported to UMass Medical Center in Worcester."
MSP added this further explanation:
Ongoing investigation has led to more information about the sequence of events in this incident. The Lieutenant was on duty and traveling in his unmarked cruiser when he observed a different tractor-trailer that was ahead of him pull into the breakdown lane for a smoking tire. He activated his blue lights and pulled behind that tractor-trailer to protect that truck and its driver and to render any assistance needed. As the Lieutenant exited his cruiser, he noticed the second tractor-trailer – the one that would hit him in a matter of seconds – oncoming in the breakdown lane and rapidly approaching his position. That tractor-trailer suddenly attempted to pull back into the right travel lane; the truck’s cab was able to do so and narrowly avoid hitting the Lieutenant or his cruiser, but the trailer it was pulling did not clear the Lieutenant, who was standing up against the driver’s side of his cruiser. The trailer passing by at highway speed made contact with the Lieutenant, side-swiping and spinning him, pushing him into the passenger side of the cruiser. The impact caused injuries to his arms and hands. The trailer only made contact with the Lieutenant, who was between it and the cruiser; the trailer did not impact the cruiser. The damage to the cruiser’s rear driver’s side door was caused by the Lieutenant being pushed into it. The Lieutenant then made a radio transmission indicating he had been struck, while a civilian Good Samaritan and the other tractor-trailer driver offered assistance.The Lieutenant, who is the commander of our Traffic Programs Section, has been released from the hospital and will be on injured leave.
