MIDDLETOWN, DELAWARE (3/26/2016) A 71-year-old Townsend woman was critically injured in a two-vehicle crash along Middletown’s eastern border, the New Castle County police reported early today. The other driver also was injured.
Delaware State Police had initially reported one person had died in the crash just before 4 p.m. Friday on Middletown Odessa Road (Route 299) near Gloucester Boulevard.
But county police said Middletown police arrived on the scene and found both drivers survived.
“The 71-year-old female was initially trapped in her vehicle and reportedly had faint vital signs. She was extricated from the vehicle and transported via ambulance to Christiana Hospital. She is currently in the intensive care unit,” Cpl. Tom Jackson of county police said.
He said investigators determined she was driving a 2010 Dodge Caravan westbound on Route 299 and drove on the right shoulder to pass backed up traffic.
Once past the traffic, she drove back into the travel lane and then continued left over a low raised median into oncoming traffic, Jackson said.
The Dodge then struck a Subaru Forester driven by a 68-year-old man from Narberth, Pennsylvania.
The man was taken by Delaware State Police helicopter to Christiana Hospital in Stanton with injuries not considered life-threatening, Jackson said.
The road was closed about four hours as police investigated and the wreckage was cleared.
Jackson said anyone with information on this incident can call police at 302-573-2800 or visit www.nccpd.com.
Tips also may be submitted anonymously through Delaware Crime Stoppers, which offers rewards, at 800-847-3333 or www.delaware.crimestoppersweb.com.