Beware: Black Ice

A car slid off Fair Street at Noonan Drive in Patterson Sunday afternoon, crashed through a fence, and missed a house, but landed in the front yard of the residence. The driver was taken to Putnam Hospital Center for treatment of what was described as a non-life threatening injury. The crash was one of several in the area when Old Man Winter returned after taking a break and giving local residents a touch of spring. Eric Gross After residents of Putnam County and vicinity got a tease from Old Man Winter, who decided to take a nap by providing a precipitation-free, 10-day period of weather, nasty conditions returned over the weekend, when ice and snow coated surfaces, resulting in numerous crashes.

Six people were injured, one seriously, in an early morning crash on Route 6 in Carmel on Saturday. Carmel Police said the vehicle—a club cab Dodge pick-up—was headed eastbound at 4am when the driver, Edwin Soto, 39, of Danbury, lost control on a patch of black ice in the vicinity of Shaft 10. The truck slid out of control before overturning and striking a utility pole.

Soto and his passengers—Brooke Seda, 29, William Livingston, 39, Jason Haviland,30, Jonathan Troia, 26 and Thomas Martine, 31, were all injured.

Ambulances and rescue personnel from Carmel, Brewster, Mahopac, and Mahopac Falls were pressed into action. Seda suffered a serious neck injury and was taken to the Westchester Medical Center, while the others were all taken to Danbury Hospital and Putnam Hospital Center. Sgt. Edward Dazi said police issued no summons, pending completion of the accident investigation.

On Sunday afternoon, the Putnam 911 Dispatch Center sounded alarms for 22 mishaps that occurred within an hour of each other. Roads hard hit included Route I-684 in Southeast and North Salem, Route I-84 in Southeast, Kent, and Patterson, Route 311 in Patterson, Fair Street in Carmel and Patterson, Route 301 in Kent and Putnam Valley, and Route 9 in Philipstown.