A Pennsylvania truck driver has been cited after ice flew off the tractor-trailer he was driving on Interstate 495 in Andover on Thursday and smashed through the windshield of another vehicle, injuring a 6-year-old girl, police said.
Massachusetts State Police ticketed the truck driver, a 34-year-old man from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with carrying an unsecured load, which includes a $200 fine. The truck is owned by Watsontown Trucking of Milton, Pennsylvania. Police did not identify the driver by name.
State police said the driver “was not aware of ice on top of the trailer or that anything had fallen from his truck.”
At about 1:45 p.m. Thursday, witnesses reported seeing the chunk of ice come off the tractor-trailer on the northbound side of I-495 in Andover. The ice flew through the passenger’s side of the windshield of a 2018 Toyota and left the young girl with minor injuries. She was treated at Lawrence General Hospital and released that day, state police said.
Massachusetts does not classify failure to remove snow and ice from a vehicle as a specific violation. An unsecured load is one of several civil infractions state police said they use to enforce such removal.