Cops: Islip Terrace fire truck crashes on way to Long Island

A new pumper truck ordered by the Islip Terrace Fire Department won’t be arriving any time soon after the driver delivering the rig from Wisconsin suffered a medical emergency Tuesday on the New York State Thruway in East Fishkill, crashing the truck into a stand of trees, State Police said.

The driver, Glenn E. Bennett, 64, of Three Lakes, Wisconsin, was taken to Danbury Hospital in Connecticut, where he was in stable condition, police said.

Police said the rig, a 2016 Seagrave pumper truck, was being delivered to Islip Terrace from the Seagrave Fire Apparatus in Clintonville, Wisconsin, when it crashed on eastbound I-84 near Lime Kiln Road at 11:47 a.m. Police said Bennett is believed to have had an undisclosed medical emergency, “causing him to exit the roadway on the northern shoulder.”

“The truck entered the median and struck several trees before coming to rest,” according to a news release on the State Police website.

The damage to the truck was not immediately clear.

The Islip Terrace Fire Department said it had not taken delivery of the truck and that its personnel were not involved and referred all calls to Seagrave.

Calls to Seagrave were not immediately returned Wednesday.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”