Mary A. Cummings, who was participating in a Good Friday walk to raise money for two charities, was in serious condition yesterday.

01:00 AM EST on Saturday, March 26, 2005

BY ARTHUR KIMBALL-STANLEY
Journal Staff Writer

CENTRAL FALLS -- A 74-year-old Woonsocket woman taking part in a Good Friday walk yesterday morning was struck by a tractor-trailer as she crossed the street.

The woman, who was identified as Mary A. Cummings by members of her church group, was walking to raise money for Hospitality House, a local soup kitchen, and for Project Hope, a social-service agency operated by the Diocese of Providence.

At about 9:20 a.m., as the procession left Notre Dame Church, a tractor-trailer, driven by James W. Brown, 61, of 230 Joslin Rd., Glendale, stopped on Broad Street before making a left turn onto Sacred Heart Street.

The police said Cummings apparently thought the truck had stopped for her, and she stepped into the street. She was struck as the truck turned and was dragged 25 feet before the truck stopped. Her leg was pinned under the front-right wheel.

There there was no indication that Brown was at fault and no charges have been filed, the police said.

George Aissis, a Central Falls Fire Department EMT, said that as rescuers approached, Cummings told them, "OK, everyone, take a step back, take a deep breath, and get this truck off me."

Keith Carignan, of Woonsocket, a member of Sacred Heart Church in Woonsocket, said Cummings had been at the back of the group as walkers crossed Broad Street and went down the hill on Sacred Heart Street.

Carignan, who had made his way across the intersection, said he heard a truck hit something. He turned around, running back up the hill.

"When I got there, I found [Cummings] under the truck, with her leg pinned down," Carignan said. "She was yelling 'Get off my leg, Get off my leg,' " he said.

Cummings was taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where she underwent surgery, the police said. A hospital spokeswoman said late yesterday afternoon that her condition had been upgraded to serious from critical.

Members of her church group described Cummings, who lives with her sister and brother at 62 Meadow Rd., as a very religious and independent woman. Carignan said a member of the procession had offered to help Cummings, who walks with a cane, cross the street, but she refused.

Michael Degree, 16, of Woonsocket, said Cummings attends church every day. The Rev. Dan Sweet, a priest at Notre Dame Church, described her as "very devoted to Jesus Christ and the Eucharist." Father Sweet said Cummings had received the Eucharist yesterday morning. Central Falls Fire Chief Rene Coutu said the Pawtucket Fire Department was called for assistance because they have Kevlar inflatable air bags, which are used to lift cars and trucks off accident victims. The Central Falls Fire Department has a tool that firefighters use to extricate accident victims from car wrecks, but it wouldn't have been as stable, said Coutu.

Pawtucket Battalion Chief Richard Meerbott said a single airbag was used, after a 12-ton jack was placed under the right-front wheel of the tractor-trailer. The jack raised the truck just enough to provide some initial clearance.

Big wooden blocks -- both Meerbott and Coutu referred to them as "cribbing" -- were placed beneath the truck chassis, followed by the airbag.

Meerbott said that, when the air bag was inflated, it lifted the truck enough so that Cummings could be freed. Rescue workers had attached an IV to stabilize Cummings once the pressure on her leg was relieved.

"We didn't know what shape she was in," Meerbott said. "She could have gone into shock and lost a lot of fluids."

The police said the truck driver, Brown, was shaken by the accident. He was taken to Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket for treatment.

Rescue workers from Pawtucket, North Providence and Central Falls responded to the accident, as did the Central Falls police and the Rhode Island State Police.