Alleged drunken driving accident closes Northway for hours

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May 10, 2009

By DAN HEATH The Press Republican Sun May 10, 2009, 04:57 PM EDT

SCHROON — Drunken driving allegedly caused an accident that closed the southbound lanes of the Northway for several hours Thursday night.

Schroon Lake-based State Police reported Barbara Bonsignore, 53, of Moriah was driving south on Interstate 87 at 10:49 p.m. when she pulled across the road to try to make a U-turn.

She wanted to circle back to look for her boyfriend, Daniel J. Engstrom, 47, of Moriah, who was on foot along the Northway, police said.

Bonsignore reportedly pulled in front of a tractor-trailer truck being driven south by Robert Lefebvre, 51, of Chateaugay, Quebec.

The two vehicles collided, and the tractor-trailer overturned, blocking both southbound lanes after it came to rest.

As troopers investigated, Engstrom arrived; police said he was intoxicated and combative. He was charged with second-degree obstruction of governmental administration and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors.

Engstrom was processed on those charges and released to a sober person, to reappear in Schroon Town Court at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Bonsignore and Lefebvre were transported to Elizabethtown Community Hospital, where Lefebvre was treated and released. Information on Bonsignore’s condition was not available Sunday.

Bonsignore was arrested at the hospital and charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated. She was also ticketed for moving from a lane unsafely and making an improper U-turn.

She is due to be processed at the Schroon Lake State Police station today.

The accident resulted in a minor fuel spill. The southbound lanes of the Northway were closed by the accident and didn’t reopen until 4:20 a.m.

E-mail Dan Heath at:

dheath@pressrepublican.com