Officials Credit Safety Belt for Saving 17-Year-Old in Water Street Crash

Juvenile is temporarily handcuffed by Haverhill Police. (WHAV News photograph by Jay’s Photography Studio.)

Passenger side of car was torn from vehicle as a result of crash. (WHAV News photograph by Jay’s Photography Studio.)

Wearing a safety belt is being credited with saving the life of a 17-year-old driver after a major crash early Sunday morning on Water Street.

The juvenile, driving an older model station wagon, struck and sheared a utility pole near Shapleigh Avenue, just before 1:30 a.m. The front passenger side of the car was virtually torn from the vehicle. Witnesses said the teenager appeared to be intoxicated.

Deputy Police Chief Anthony Haugh said the minor was handcuffed during questioning but later taken to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries. He was not arrested but will be summonsed into court instead, Haugh said.

Haverhill Firefighters were also on scene with a rescue truck. Electricity was not immediately interrupted.

One thought on “Officials Credit Safety Belt for Saving 17-Year-Old in Water Street Crash

  1. “Haverhill Firefighters were also on scene with a rescue truck.”

    Of course they were. I’d be surprised if they didn’t send several trucks, especially at that time of the morning. By sending fire department vehicles they get to list “each” truck as responding to the scene of an incident. So at a scene where they send 4 vehicles the department “call reports” list 4 incidents, not one. The vehicles are sent no matter what, even when the driver and responders don’t even exit the vehicle, which happens all the time. It’s the most egregious manipulation of public data there is. It’s done by ALL public employee fire unions so that they can significantly inflate “response calls” when it comes time to negotiate their contracts. It’s a complete scam….