General News: Motorcyclist Survives Plunge Down Cliff
September 04, 2009
A motorcycle driver survived a treacherous fall over the cliff above the Hudson
River on Route 218 in Cornwall Thursday evening.
According to Cornwall police chief Todd Hazard, 29-year-old Edward Green of Greenwood Lake was driving his 2007 Suzuki motorcycle south on Route 218 when he crossed the dividing line and struck a car headed north that was driven by 42-year-old Gina Gregory of Newburgh.
Green told police that he looked down at his speedometer and when he looked up, saw something in the roadway, swerved, and hit the oncoming car. Green then crashed into the stone wall and was thrown about 150 feet down the cliff at the so-called low point of the winding mountain road.
Members of the Cornwall fire department, the Cornwall Ambulance Corps and New Windsor paramedics launched a rescue effort from below, closing down the railroad tracks to bring in a brush truck and a rope rescue truck. Cornwall assistant fire chief Kevin Hines said Green was put into a basket and lifted down to the railroad tracks. From there, he was transported down the tracks to West Point where a helicopter waited to take him to Westchester Medical Center.
"It was his lucky day," Hines said after the rescue operation ended, noting that Green had a broken leg and other minor injuries.
Green told police that he remembers going down the hillside and remarked what a splendid view of the Hudson River he had on his way down.
Comments:
"what a splendid view of the Hudson River..." sing it with me now, kids...always look on the bright side of life...
