Car hits truck on Rt. 422; Mercer woman injured
FRANKLIN TWP — A rush-hour crash with a tractor-trailer left a Mercer County woman injured and pinned in her car on Route 422.
Prospect volunteer firefighters had to rescue Lynn Bean, 31, of Mercer, who state police said suffered arm, leg and knee injuries and a possible head injury in the wreck shortly before 6 a.m. Monday.
Bean was traveling east when she lost control of her Ford Fusion just west of Unionville Road in Franklin Township.
The car crossed over the center turn lane and into opposing traffic, heading toward Bill Porter's single-axle tractor-trailer.
“It was coming right at me,” said the 63-year-old Porter of West Sunbury.
He pulled off the road in a bid to avoid the other vehicle. But the car struck the drive axle of his tractor and the front corner of his trailer.
“I couldn't get away from her,” Porter said. “I wish I could have.”
Moments earlier, he had left nearby Walsh Equipment on Unionville Road with a load of paving machinery en route to Youngstown, Ohio.
The collision, he said, “bounced me pretty good,” but he was uninjured. He stopped his damaged rig and went to check on the other driver.
“Her legs were pinned under the dash,” Porter recalled, “and she said she was hurting.”
Fire crews got there and immediately went to work to rescue Bean, who authorities said was headed to pick up someone from work.
“We popped the (driver's) door and rolled the dashboard forward,” said Prospect Fire Chief Ken Wilson.
Fortunately, Wilson said, the injuries weren't as bad as he initially feared, after firefighters got her out of the car.
“She was in pain,” he said, “Pain in her left elbow and pain in her left leg.”
Police later said Bean had an open fracture to her left arm, left leg and knee injuries and a possible head injury.
“She was banged up pretty good,” said police Cpl. Greg Bogan.
A Butler Ambulance Service crew tended to her before she was taken to an unspecified Pittsburgh hospital by ambulance because helicopters could not fly due to the morning weather conditions.
Bean's condition was still unknown later in the afternoon.
The crash caused a backlog of traffic in both directions on the busy highway for about an hour.
Police said Monday their investigation was continuing and they did not know what caused Bean to lose control of her car.
