Mother, two young children in critical condition after collision on Northlake Boulevard

In 10 years of living in the Acreage, Patty Kalendowicz has seen more bad crashes at the intersection of Northlake Boulevard and Hall Boulevard than she cares to remember.

So when Kalendowicz heard a Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Trauma Hawk helicopter landing Thursday morning close to the intersection, her first thought was, “OK, it happened again.”

Kalendowicz left her home and walked around six blocks to the intersection where she found the aftermath of a frightening collision Thursday morning between a sport utility vehicle carrying a mother and two young children and a dump truck.

The mother and two children and the truck driver were taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center with serious injuries. The mother and her children are in critical condition. The truck driver was listed in serious condition. WPTV-Channel 5 reported that the truck driver arrived at the scene of the accident in the afternoon and said he had just been released from the hospital. Family members of the truck driver were seen taking photos of the crash scene, WPTV reported.

Names of the injured had not been released as of late Thursday afternoon.

The preliminary investigation revealed that the tractor trailer was headed west on Northlake Boulevard when the SUV, traveling north, ran the stop sign at the intersection of Hall, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s spokesman Eric Davis said. The SUV was T-boned by the dump truck.

The crash happened at 10:20 a.m., Palm Beach County Fire Rescue District Chief Ernest Muller said. Firefighters had to cut out the occupants from the vehicles using heavy extrication tools.

The first person on the scene was a nurse who called 911, Muller said.

The collision pushed the SUV off the road and into the brush, leaving severe damage to the passengers’ side of the vehicle. A baby stroller and two car seats could be seen along with other crash debris near the SUV.

The dump truck also ended up in the brush, around 25 feet from the SUV.

Northlake Boulevard was closed for more than five hours because of a 25- to 30-gallon fuel spill that leaked from the dump truck and the crash investigation.

Kalendowicz, who has lived in the area for a decade, said there have been several crashes at the intersection. “This happens all the time. They should put a traffic light at this intersection,” she said.

A man was killed and another person was seriously injured at the intersection on Nov. 7 when a car collided with a pickup truck.