Fire Department Volunteer Hit By Truck in Kingston, New York

A volunteer with a Kingston area fire department was seriously injured after he was struck by a pickup truck while directing traffic.

If you are a volunteers with one of the hundreds of volunteer fire departments across the Hudson Valley you are well aware that when you sign up to help when your neighbors need it you are also signing up to put yourself in all forms of danger. The danger comes in all forms from fighting a fire and helping at a car accidents, to putting themselves in dangerous places so that other first responders can get to, and deal with an emergency. Unfortunately the latter can sometimes lead to an even more serious emergency which is what happened earlier this week in Ulster County.

Kingston Area Volunteer Hit by Truck While Directing Traffic

A volunteer with the Ruby Fire Department was hit by a pickup truck while he was directing traffic at the intersections of Sawkill and Sawkill Ruby Roads on Tuesday March 12th according to the Daily Freeman. 34 year old Matthew Sutton of nearby Lake Katrine was repordtly standing in the middle of Sawkill Road directing traffic at the intersection at approximately 5:20 p.m. when he was struck by a pickup truck.

According to New York State Police a 2018 Ford F-150 pickup truck driven by 42 year old Oscar Casteneda of Saugerties, NY struck Sutton while he was diverting traffic to avoid a section of Sawkill Road that was temporally shut down. Police didn't reveal further details about the accident or what caused it but did say that Sutton was transported by helicopter to Westchester Medical Center with serious injuries.

SEE ALSO: New York Volunteers Now Eligible for $500 to $1250 Stipend

Neither Casteneda or his passenger in the truck were injured in the accident and police didn't say if any tickets were issued or not at the scene. When more information becomes available we will update this article.