Verona (WSYR-TV) – State Police are investigating the exact cause of a crash on the bridge over the Erie Canal in Verona on Sunday. A Verona woman was killed in the accident and a man died the following day as a result of injuries he sustained.
According to investigators, Ellie Dombrowski, 59, was driving a 1957 Austin Healey northbound on Stoney Creek Road with a passenger, H. Carlton Reames, 68.
At about 2:30 p.m., police say Dombrowski was somehow distracted and drove toward the bridge over the canal.
The bridge has been closed to traffic since November.
There is a metal beam about three feet high stretching across the both the north and south ends of the bridge. The beams are welded to the rails on the bridge and other barricades are nearby as a sign that no traffic is allowed.
The car went under the southern beam, skidded along the guardrail, across the bridge and went under the northern beam until it came to a stop about 50 feet away.
The impact of the crash caused severe damage to the windshield. The top of the convertible was down.
Dombrowski died in the crash. Reames, who was the passenger, was taken to Upstate Hospital in Syracuse. Reames was initially listed in critical condition, but he eventually succumbed to his wounds.
Witnesses heard the sound of metal scraping at about 2:30 p.m. but they thought it was a boat on the canal squeezing under the bridge.
The scene of the accident was discovered by a teenage boy who was walking in the area at about 4:15 p.m. When he saw the crash scene, he went to get his parents.
Rainey and Steven Rathbun – who happen to be nurses – were on the scene immediately after Rainey's son found the wrecked car. When they arrived, they set about doing what they are trained to do.
“Put direct pressure on his head wound. Try to just keep him alive,” said Steven Rathbun, who described the scene he encountered as, “gruesome…very gruesome.”
The New York State Department of Transportation is now conducting its own investigation into the bridge as a result of the accident. The say the beams across the bridge’s entrances aren’t meant to physically stop a car. They are meant to warn drivers.
“So motorists can see that, and stop, or divert other ways before they get to this area,” said State DOT Regional Director Michael Shamma.
The people that remember the accident victims fondly recall them.
“She [Ellie Dombrowski] was vivacious, cheerful, very friendly. She was a caring person and I’m going to miss her,” Cindy Lazzaro said.
On initial review of the scene, the DOT says it looks like protocol was followed when it comes to the warning signs leading up to the bridge.
