Dec. 13--HARWICH -- No injuries were reported but a state police cruiser was heavily damaged last night after it was struck while stopped on Route 6 east as rescue workers tended the victim of an earlier accident.
The incident involving the state police cruiser occurred around 10:30 p.m. as Trooper James O'Donnell was at the scene of the other accident that happened about 20 minutes earlier, said state police Sgt. Timothy Whalen.
Route 6 east was closed between exits 10 and 11 as Harwich firefighters extricated the victim of the earlier accident, Whalen said. O'Donnell was helping redirect traffic from the highway onto a side road when his cruiser was struck, Whalen said.
The cruiser was stopped and had its blue lights flashing. Whalen could not immediately say if O'Donnell was inside the car when it was hit.
Jean Olson, 77, of East Orleans, driver of the car that hit the cruiser, was not immediately charged but the investigation into that accident is continuing, Whalen said.
In the first accident, Harwich firefighters had to extricate Christopher Marciante, 22, of Harwich, from his car after it ran off the road and struck trees on the eastbound side of Route 6 between exits 10 and 11, Whalen said.
Marciante was taken to Cape Cod Hospital where he was reported in stable condition this morning.
Copyright 2011 - Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
