Marcia Moore
The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
SHAMOKIN DAM, Pa. — Jeremy Kline was heading north on the Strip in Shamokin Dam at rush hour on Friday, March 4, when he saw what appeared to be an explosion to his right at the Golden Chopsticks restaurant.
“I saw the (concrete) jersey barrier break apart and then I saw a little bit of an explosion,” he said. “I thought it was the van hitting the building.”
Kline, a nine-year member of the Hummels Wharf Fire Company, immediately turned on his vehicle emergency lights to block traffic and went to assist the occupants of the damaged van that crashed into the side of the restaurant.
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By that point, many others were also springing into action at what turned out to be a multiple-vehicle crash allegedly caused by an intoxicated motorist, Theresa J. Risso, 43, of Selinsgrove, who police said was driving a 2017 BMW with her improperly restrained 18-month-old daughter in the backseat. The BMW went airborne and flipped onto the roof of the restaurant.
As Kline was trying to help James Haught, 47, of Shamokin Dam, out of the van’s passenger seat, an employee from a nearby bank was putting out a small fire that had erupted at the restaurant when the engine from Risso’s vehicle disengaged and hit the building.
Five of the six people inside the restaurant were uninjured, but one employee suffered a shoulder injury from falling debris.
Hummels Wharf Deputy Fire Chief Eric Buck went into the restaurant to check on the occupants and heard someone say there was a vehicle on the roof.
“What?” he recalled thinking.
State Police Trooper Chris Clinton, who was at a nearby business, jumped onto the roof and retrieved Risso’s child who was held in a Graco car seat by only a plastic clip. The buckle between her legs was not fastened, court records said.
Buck, who has 28 years of experience as a first responder, said Risso was unconscious at the wheel and in critical condition.
She was placed on a backboard and lowered to the ground in a fire truck bucket, he said.
Later, when Buck learned that Risso was intoxicated — police say her blood-alcohol content was .327 percent, or more than four times the legal limit — and was released from the hospital four days later, he said he became angry.
“Thank God she didn’t kill anybody,” he said. “On a Friday night, at rush hour. To me, it’s a miracle.”
Charges filed, victims recovering
Risso was released from the hospital Tuesday. The only injury visible when she appeared Friday at a preliminary hearing on numerous felony and misdemeanor charges, including aggravated assault and child endangerment, was a bruise on her chin. Risso is being held at Snyder County Prison in lieu of $200,000 cash pending a preliminary hearing later this month.
Haught faces a long recovery from a broken back and ribs sustained in the accident, said his wife, Christine Haught, who was in the driver’s seat of the van and escaped serious injury.
Risso’s daughter was kept in the hospital overnight for observation but was also uninjured, a fact that stunned — and relieved — many.
“I’ve seen accidents where car seats have been ejected,” said Jake Kline, a 23-year member of Shamokin Dam Fire Department.
Timing a factor in outcome
Several first responders said timing was key in how the accident played out.
The Strip is usually bumper-to-bumper on a Friday night at 5:45, but Jeremy Kline said the traffic signal south of the accident scene was red which lightened the number of vehicles in Risso’s path as she sped southbound. She hit several cars at Baldwin Boulevard and Eight Avenue in Shamokin Dam. Then, she veered into the northbound lanes, struck a utility pole and concrete barrier and crashed into the Haught’s van before landing her BMW on the restaurant roof.
“It looked like a staged scene out of a movie,” said Hummels Wharf Fire Chief Chris Eppley.
“It’s a once in a lifetime thing,” Jordan Bailey, a fire lieutenant at Hummels Wharf, said of the crash.
The accident debris was spread out over about one-quarter mile, said Jake Kline. “That amount of debris is something you don’t usually see,” he said.
Helping to keep first responders informed were Valley 911 dispatchers who were handling an enormous amount of calls about the accident and other incidents that were taking place elsewhere, said Shamokin Dam Deputy Fire Chief Jon Gray, who works as Operations Manager at the Central Susquehanna Regional 911 Center.
What also set the incident apart was the community response, the first responders said.
“There was an enormous outpouring,” Gray said of the bystanders who rushed to the scene offering assistance and the many businesses on the Strip that provided food and refreshments to first responders from Snyder, Northumberland and Union counties as they worked for as long as six hours.
“We’re very, very grateful,” said Shamokin Dam Fire Lt. Pat Black. “It’s nice to know that people do want to help and the community backs us up.”
Speaking for all of his peers, Shamokin Dam firefighter Jared Hoffman said first responders always “prepare for the worst” but are relieved when a call ends with no fatalities.
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