This story was updated at 11 a.m.
A long-time state police sergeant who made a frantic call for help early this morning before his cruiser was swept off a bridge in Woodbury during the storm was transported to Yale New Haven Hospital Thursday morning in critical condition.
State police found the sergeant’s car early Thursday morning but searched another few hours before finding the trooper, who had been swept away by flood waters. He was taken by Life Star helicopter to the hospital with critical injuries.
The sergeant, who is assigned to Troop L in Litchfield, was working the overnight shift, according to sources, when he called for help shortly before 4 a.m. Troopers from that barracks rushed to the area to search for him. Police have not said where in the Woodbury area they found the car or the officer.
The sergeant is a 27-year-veteran of the department. The CT Mirror is not naming the officer because police have not officially released his name.
The state was deluged with heavy rains and flooding overnight from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, which dumped more than half a foot of rain on Connecticut and wreaked havoc across the Northeast. At least 14 people in the greater New York region died in the storm, according to published reports, and severe tornadoes tore through parts of New Jersey.
The incident occurred around 3:30 a.m. in the area of Jack’s Bridge over the Pomperaug River in Woodbury. State police said the sergeant made a distress call that his car was flooding on the bridge.
The call set off a massive search that included nine fire departments, three airplanes including a Coast Guard plane equipped to pull someone out of the water, the state police dive team, and troopers from all over the state who searched the river banks.
Woodbury Fire Chief Janet Morgan said the vehicle was swept off the bridge and into the river. She said the Pomperaug River was about six feet over its flooding stage at that time.
“It’s an area that we have known to flood quickly in the past,” Morgan said. “It’s on one of our back roads and is not well lit and he (the trooper) could have come across the bridge and not seen the water coming over the top.”
Morgan said the fire departments immediately started searching down river and, at one point, firefighters from nine departments from as far away as New Milford were involved in the search. There were six fire and police boats in the river searching as well.
The trooper’s car was found first, downstream from the bridge. The trooper was not with the vehicle. He was found farther downstream a few hours later.
State Police spokesman Pedro Munoz said the sergeant was on duty at the time of the call. State police did not say why he was in that area of Woodbury.
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State trooper in critical condition after his cruiser was swept into river - The CT Mirror
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