Investigators: Driver in fatal Hyde Park tractor-trailer crash had drugs in his system

Police say Craig Allen Dickson, of Hopewell Junction, slammed into Junior's Lounge.

News 12 Staff

Oct 28, 2022, 9:44 PM

Updated 776 days ago

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Investigators say the man behind a deadly June tractor-trailer crash in Hyde Park was under the influence of drugs.
Craig Allen Dickson, of Hopewell Junction, slammed into Junior's Lounge.
The impact destroyed most of the front of building, causing it to partially collapse.
Dickson, 33, was pronounced dead on scene.
Investigators say Dickson had fentanyl, morphine and xylazine in his system at the time of his death. His cause of death is now determined as blunt impact injuries and traumatic asphyxia associated with those drugs.
Xylazine a tranquilizer drug used on animals and is increasingly being mixed by people who abuse fentanyl, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Another driver whose vehicle flipped in the crash suffered only minor injuries.
A tenant who was asleep on the second floor of the building ended up on top of the truck in her bed.
She also suffered minor injuries.
Four months after a large construction truck plowed through the popular Junior’s Lounge, the pile of debris remains.
The owner of Junior’s Lounge, Louie Rossi, returned to the site Friday night for the first time since the crash in June.
It was an emotional return for Rossie as he looked at all what remains of his business.
“There’s not much to pick through. Not much to find,” Rossi said.
In the debris of what was Junior’s Lounge, parts of the large truck that was pulling a dump trailer still remains among the pile of rubble.
Rossi is now only focusing on what he still has and on rebuilding.
“I don’t know why it happened. I do know that it was incredible that nobody else got hurt. That’s the angle I like to view this from. It could have been so much worse,” he said.
Junior’s Lounge was destroyed and 42 years of memories many in the community made are shattered.
The impact on the community is clear as one can see on the fence someone put up the letters spelling out “Goodbye Old Friend." But to Rossi, it’s more like “See You Again Soon."
“So as soon as we get something we’ll definitely put it out there. We’ll definitely be back,” he said.
Rossi said the debris removal will begin mid-November, but as to what will be built here, that has yet to be determined.