O'RYAN JOHNSON
The Boston Herald

An off-duty police officer and a firefighter were hospitalized when the vehicles they were driving collided yesterday in a Mattapan intersection, fire officials said.


Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said Ladder 29 was responding - with its lights and sirens on - to a car crash on American Legion Highway.

As the truck approached the intersection of Harvard and Morton streets at about 3:43 p.m., it collided with a silver SUV driven by the police officer.

The officer was on his way to work in his personal vehicle, police said.

The truck then crashed into a signal light pole, sending it crashing to the ground, MacDonald said. The two injured men were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. State police said Darrell Vinson, 46, was driving the SUV, while Frank Tierney, 52, was behind the wheel of the firetruck.

Vinson was taken to Boston Medical Center with a series leg injury. Tierney was treated for minor injuries at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

MacDonald said it was not clear who was at fault. State police are investigating.

Ladder 29 was involved in a minor accident Monday when it deployed jacks used to stabilize the truck when its ladder is raised, and one of the jacks scraped a car, MacDonald said.

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April 6, 2011