Man In Wheelchair Seriously Hurt After Hitting Truck: Police

WILLIMANTIC, CT — A man in a wheelchair apparently ran into the back of a tractor-trailer on a street in Willimantic Tuesday and he was airlifted to an area hospital, fire officials said.

According to a preliminary incident report, just before 11 a.m., while returning from pump training on Trapella Road with a fire engine, Willimantic Firefighters encountered an elderly man laying in the intersection of West Main Street and Cantor Drive near his wheelchair.

As they stopped to render aid, the driver of a tractor trailer parked nearby approached them and said that the man and the wheelchair operator ran into the rear wheels of his truck, the report states.

A mutual aid ambulance from Mansfield and Windham Hospital Paramedics arrived and they met Life Star helicopter at Windham Hospital's landing pad. The man was then taken to Hartford hospital, according t0 the report.

The man's injuries are life-threatening, fire officials said. No additional details have been released.