Ecology Center Closed After Being Struck by Pickup

The Salmon Brook Ecology Center will be shut down for several weeks after being struck by a pickup truck during the snowstorm early Sunday morning, according to a school official.

Granby Superintendent of Schools Alan Addley said that the building sustained significant structural and electrical damage after it was hit by a Ford F-150 pickup truck allegedly driven by Joseph Bartoes, a 20-year-old Granby resident.

Bartoes was allegedly doing doughnuts in the parking lot when he lost control of his vehicle, the rear of which slammed into the Ecology Center, according to Granby Chief of Police Carl Rosensweig.

Police said Bartoes left the scene of the accident before police responded, but officers were able to identify the vehicle that struck the building based on the serial numbers on several parts that broke off the pickup, Rosensweig said.

Simultaneously, Rosensweig said that Officer Steven Vernale, while off duty, drove around several Granby neighborhoods and ultimately located Bartoes’ damaged pickup truck in a driveway.

“He did a great job,” Rosensweig said of Vernale. “That shows incredible dedication to his work.”

Bartoes was on Jan. 22 for evading responsibility, reckless driving and loitering on or about school grounds.

Addley said that it would be at least two or three weeks before the building, which sustained damage to the exterior and interior of a brick wall, as well as to the electrical and fire systems, is repaired. Though no formal estimates have been obtained, Addley said that school maintenance workers have unofficially put the cost of the repairs in the neighborhood of $20,000.

The Ecology Building was built, in large part, with funds donated from the Granby Education Foundation and, according to the Granby Education Foundation’s website, incorporates the latest in green technology to help students in “learning science, ecology and other related fields.”

The accident is one in a string of strange events that the school district has endured during the year, including the rare that resulted in power outages that shut down the schools for a week and the that wiped out several large storage bays that housed the schools’ facilities equipment.

“[The Ecology Center] going to be out of action for a couple of weeks,” Addley said. “He managed to do a number on the thing.”