CORNISH – A pedestrian struck by a vehicle on the Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge Thursday afternoon was in a coma at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center as of Friday morning, his wife said.
“Skull fracture and brain damage, partial collapsed lungs and broken ribs,” said Therese Iwanchuk, as she was traveling to DHMC from Portland, Ore, where she and her husband, Michael, reside. “It doesn’t look good at all.”
Michael Iwanchuk, 52, an Oregon resident, was visiting their daughter, Zoe, who was living in Windsor while working at the Killington Ski Resort, Therese Iwanchuk said.
On Thursday, he decided to take the day to walk around and explore the area. At 12:45 p.m., he was hit by a vehicle while crossing the Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge on foot.
The driver of the car that struck Iwanchuk is a 68-year-old male from Windsor, according to a Friday news release from New Hampshire State Police, which added that the driver “is cooperating with the investigation.”
No charges had been filed as of Friday afternoon.
First built in 1886, the Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge is 449 feet long, according to the Vermont Historical Society, and is one of the region’s more popular landmarks.
While there are speed-limit signs of 15 mph on both the New Hampshire and Vermont side, no foot traffic signs are posted.
Following the bridge incident, Iwanchuk was transported by Golden Cross Ambulance to DHMC.
Reached Friday morning, Dartmouth Health officials declined to provide information about Iwanchuk’s condition.
State Police said that the injured pedestrian remains in critical condition.
Therese Iwanchuk said Friday the most recent update on her husband’s condition was that he is in a coma.
“They don’t really know anything else,” she said. “They’re not sure how long he’s going to be there; if he’s ever going to wake up. And if he wakes up, he is going to have a really long way to go.”
The crash remains under investigation. Those with information about it are asked to contact NH State Trooper First Class Brandon Dean at 603-223-8303 or brandon.m.dean@dos.nh.gov.
No injuries in earlier crash
The crash that injured Michael Iwanchuk was the second of two crashes to take place in the vicinity on Thursday afternoon.
Route 12A was closed due to a collision between a vehicle and a fuel tanker truck at 12:41 p.m. Thursday.
Plainfield Police are conducting the investigation of the first crash, and said that the driver of the car was a woman in her mid-20s. She was transported by Windsor ambulance to DHMC with non-life threatening injuries.
The driver of the fuel tanker truck, an “experienced” trucker in his 40s working for Brown Bear Trucking out of Brattleboro, Vt., was uninjured.
The road reopened to one lane at about 2:15 p.m. to clear traffic through the area before closing again, so 9,000 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel could be offloaded before the disabled fuel truck could be moved.
“There was a lot of damage,” Plainfield Police Sgt. Rob DePietro said, describing the scene. “But it doesn’t appear that there’s gonna be any criminal charges on either side. It doesn’t appear that there’s any neglect of equipment or anything like that.”