Crash Snarls Expressway Traffic

A furniture delivery truck driver narrowly escaped serious injury on the Long Island Expressway after he plowed into the rear of another eastbound furniture truck under the Douglaston Parkway overpass.

The crash, which took place shortly after noon Wednesday, immediately snarled traffic for miles in both directions as highway police stopped traffic to get fire and emergency equipment to the scene.

An unidentified driver for Brother Quality, Inc. of Clifton, N.J. had to be cut from the cab by Fire Department personnel and was removed from the scene by an ambulance to Flushing Hospital Medical Center.

"He's going to be okay," said a police officer at the scene.

The force of the crash pushed the windshield into the driver's compartment, and crumpled the cab. Truck parts and shattered glass littered the roadway.

There was no word on the condition of the driver or any helpers in the struck vehicle. But it appeared to have sustained only minor damage.

Other truckers and commuters hoping for a quick Thanksgiving getaway made for the service roads, slowing down local traffic in both directions.

One commuter on Douglaston Parkway, having finally escaped the tie-up, reported being stuck in traffic for an hour.