A North Belle Vernon police officer responding to an accident was injured when his police cruiser and a transit bus collided 6:10 p.m. Friday at the intersection of Broad Avenue and Fayette Street.
Officer Brice Joll was transported to Jefferson Regional Hospital in Jefferson Hills, complaining of pain to his right leg. He also suffered cuts to his left hand.
The nursing supervisor at Jefferson declined to provide a condition report.
The operator of the Mid Mon Valley Transit Authority bus was not injured.
However, there were two passengers on the bus.
One passenger was transported by ambulance to a hospital for precautionary reasons, authority Executive Director Mark Roncone said.
Roncone said the driver was a veteran employee. The authority will conduct drug and alchol screening, according to policy.
Roncone declined to release the name of the driver. The transit authority will conduct an internal investigation of the accident.
Police from Washington Township were first on the scene, followed by Rostraver Township, Monessen, West Newton and state police.
"That's the way it is," North Belle Vernon police Chief Jim Bedsworth said. "If you've got an officer in trouble, everyone responds."
State police at the Belle Vernon Barracks were investigating the accident because it involved a police officer and because Fayette Street is a state road, Bedsworth said.
No information was available on the accident to which Joll was responding, but Bedsworth said no one was injured in that incident.
Flashing lights no the police car were in use at the time of the crash.
Those were just two of several accidents keeping emergency responders busy Friday.
No one was injured when a car rolled over 6:30 p.m. Friday on Interstate 70 at the Kammerer Exit.
Firefighters from Fallowfield Township and Ellsworth, as well as state police, responded to the accident.
I-70 was backed-up for quite a distance after the accident.
State Police at the Washington Barracks had no additional information on the accident.
Carroll Township police and firefighters responded 7 a.m. Friday to a car fire on Coyle Curtin Road.
The driver had exited the Mon/Fayette Expressway when her car began to experience problems, police said. The fire began shortly after.
Firefighters extinguished it quickly.
No injuries were reported.
Two youths were flown by emergency helicopter to a Pittsburgh-based hospital following an accident in Donora involving at least one all-terrain vehicle.
One ATV had to be recovered after it went over a hill at the intersection of Van and Ninth streets.
No further information was available at presstime.
Copyright 2013 - The Valley Independent, Monessen, Pa.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
