The following account was given by the sheriff's office and fire officials:
About 2:30 a.m., Deputy Robert M. Freer was pulling onto southbound Route 9 from Osborne Hill Road in the Town of Wappinger when his Crown Victoria collided with a tractor trailer driven by Francine S. Breault of New Hampshire.
Freer's car caught on fire.
Breault got out of her truck, tried to flag down a passing motorist for help, but was unsuccessful. She ran to the deputy's car and found him unconscious.
Breault, who wasn't hurt, pried open the door and pulled Freer from the burning car.
''She saved his life,'' Dutchess County Sheriff Adrian Anderson said. ''I can't thank her enough. If it wasn't for her, we don't know what would have happened.''
In stable condition
Anderson said Freer suffered bruises to the ribs and back. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition Friday evening, a hospital spokesman said.
Last December, the safety of Crown Victorias came under renewed scrutiny after a state trooper was killed in a fiery accident in Yonkers. Trooper Robert Ambrose was filling out paperwork on the shoulder of the New York State Thruway when his Crown Victoria cruiser was hit from behind by an SUV. The cruiser exploded into flames. The driver of the SUV also died in the crash.
Ambrose was the 14th officer nationwide to die in similar accidents since 1992. Three months prior to his death, Ford had agreed to install gas tank shields in the Crown Victoria police cruisers.
In June, the union that represents state police called on troopers to avoid making "non-emergency traffic stops'' on high-speed roads as a way to avoid the risk of fiery rear-end collisions.
Freer's accident Friday didn't appear to be related to the other accidents, the county sheriff's office said, because the fire was in the engine compartment and the collision happened on the front side of the car. Sheriff's office cruisers have been retrofitted with gas tank shields, but it was unclear whether the cruiser Freer drove had been retrofitted.
The accident remains under investigation.
The crash, which closed Route 9 for about four hours, caused about 130 gallons of fuel to spill from the truck, officials said.
Agencies responding to the scene included the state Department of Environmental Conservation, along with state police, Alamo ambulance, Town of Fishkill and Village of Wappingers Falls police, and the Castle Point and New Hamburg Fire departments.
A dual role
Glenn Kramer, chief of New Hamburg Fire Department, said his department played a dual role at the scene.
''Our role, in the beginning, was to put the (car) fire out,'' Kramer said. ''The secondary role was to plug the hole in the diesel tank (of the truck).''
The cooperation of all the agencies at the scene was excellent, Anderson said.
''These people really went to the nth degree to help,'' he said. ''This is what unity among law enforcement is all about.''
The fuel spill was contained by firefighters and the trucking company hired an Albany contractor to clean it up, DEC spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach said.
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