It’s something every driver should learn before getting behind the wheel.
“If you see flashing lights, or you see traffic, you take caution, and you either stop, slow, pull over for emergency vehicles,” Maria Pettola said.
But on Saturday night, Pettola witnessed what happens when those rules of the road are not obeyed.
“We were driving from the New Haven area home to Madison,” she said.
Her husband slowed down as they approached State Police responding to a broken down tour bus in the media of I-95 northbound in Guilford.
“We saw a state trooper at his car in his truck going to get flares,” Pettola recalled in an exclusive interview with NBC Connecticut. “And just as we were passing him, we heard a collision and saw debris flying in the road.”
Instead of pulling over to the right, State Police say Genaro Claussels of Hamden swerved left and sideswiped Trooper First Class Joseph O’Connell’s cruiser.
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“My immediate reaction was, oh my god, he got pinned between the cars,” Pettola said. “My husband said, no I saw him, he jumped out of the way, I saw his face, the shock in his face.”
Pettola watched Claussels drive off from the scene.
“We followed because we wanted to get the license plate at least,” she said.
About a quarter mile away, she snapped a photo of troopers who caught up to him.
After what she witnessed, Pettola is urging all drivers to obey the state’s Move Over law.
“I think it’s extremely important for our emergency responders,” she said, “for state workers on the side of the road.”
“We’re very happy that he’s OK,” Pettola said.
The driver suspected of being under the influence when he crashed into the trooper’s cruiser is due in court Tuesday.
