Four people, including a pregnant woman, were taken to the hospital after a two-car crash in Antrim Sunday afternoon. Soon after police responded to an alleged vehicular assault.
Antrim Police Sgt. Brian Lord was on patrol at around 12:06 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, parked at the North Branch Fire Station, when he heard the impact of a crash at the intersection Keene Road and Elm Avenue.
The driver of a pick-up truck, who had witnessed the accident, signaled Lord for assistance.
Police said a gold-colored Toyota Corolla, driven by Howard E. Johnson of Henniker, had been coming from Elm Avenue, and was crossing Keene Road to access River Road. Johnson allegedly failed to yield to oncoming traffic, and was struck by a Nissan SUV, driven by James Mora of Manchester, police said.
Johnson’s Toyota had come to rest on the westbound shoulder of the road, with significant damage to the entire right side. Mora’s Nissan had significant front-end damage and its airbag had been deployed.
Johnson had lacerations to his forehead. He and his two daughters were taken to the Concord Hospital, who had what appeared to be minor injuries.
Mora was not injured. His wife, who is pregnant, was taken to Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough as a precaution.
Both vehicles were towed from the scene by Mike’s Towing. The Hillsborough and Deering Police department’s assisted on the scene.
Johnson was issued a citation for failure to yield and missuse of plates.
Traffic was stopped for about half an hour while the road was closed until the accident was cleared.
While at the accident scene, at about 12:46 p.m., Lord was notified that the Antrim fire chief had come upon what looked like another accident with a fight in progress, on Main Street, just east of the accident.
Lord, along with an officer of the Hillsborough Police Department, responded to the scene, and found no accident had occurred, but there had been an altercation between two drivers who were stopped in traffic waiting for the Elm Avenue/Keene Road accident to clear.
A man who was driving a Jeep allegedly saw a Pontiac Vibe, stopped behind him, with a male driver, with a woman and a juvenile as passengers. The driver of the Jeep allegedly saw the man assaulting the child.
The driver of the Jeep confronted the other man, and the two had a heated argument. During the confrontation, the driver of the Vibe allegedly drove forward far enough to strike the legs of the other man.
“There was no injury. He didn’t run him over, but there was definite contact,” Lord said.
Both the alleged vehicular assault and the alleged assault of the child in the vehicle are still under investigation, Lord said, and no arrests have been made at this time.
Ashley Saari can be reached at asaari@ledgertranscript.com.