Student Drivers Unhurt In Crash

Norwalk Cop Was Teaching Group; Auto Window Smashed

Norwalk, Nov. 16-Four high school students and a policeman teaching them to drive escaped injury yesterday at 12:45 p.m. when a load of construction steel carried by a truck behind the auto shifted and crashed through the rear window of the car.

The students were participating in the driver-training program conducted by the school system.

According to police, Patrolman Frank Roberto, the instructor, noticed that the flat-bottomed trailer truck carrying the steel was following too closely behind the auto on East Avenue. Patrolman Roberto said he waved the truck driver back, and finally told the student driver, Dolores Silvia, 16, of 7 Edie Avenue, to halt the car so he could tell the truck driver to slow down.

When the girl stopped the car, near Westport Avenue, the truck also stopped, causing the load to shift forward and to the side. Several steel strips crashed through the car window. The front bumper of the truck also struck the car, damaging the trunk and rear bumper.

The truck’s load weighed about 17,800 pounds, police said.

Students taken to Norwalk Hospital and discharged after attendants found they were uninjured were: Cynthia Williams, 16, 4 Beauford Road; Linda Reilly, 16, 33 Barbara Drive, and George Clark, 16, 3 Fairview Avenue, all riding in the back sear of the auto and Miss Silvia.

Ralph Tufano, 29, of Fairview, N.J., driver of the truck, was charged with following too closely. He posted a $50 bond pending arraignment in City court Nov. 26.

The Bridgeport Post, Bridgeport, CT 16 Nov 1956
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Transcribed by June. Thanks June!