Tractor Trailer Full of Potatoes Hits Mamaroneck Road Bridge

Fred Astaire’s whimsical song “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” might vacillate between whether everyone’s favorite starchy spud is called a “potatoe” or “pot-ah-toh. One thing, however, is for sure –there were lots of them scattered about the Hutchinson River Parkway when a tractor trailer carrying 48,000 pounds of potatoes slammed into the Mamaroneck Road Bridge yesterday morning at 3:09 a.m.

Raimo-Joachim Bamberg, 51, of Riverview, New Brunswick, was traveling southbound when his truck hit the Mamaroneck Road Bridge. Bamberg told Westchester County Police that he saw the bridge, but was unable to brake in time. According to Bamberg, this was his first time traveling in New York State and he was relying on directions printed from Mapquest.

The potatoes had to be off-loaded from the truck, causing the southbound Hutchinson Parkway to be shut down until 5 a.m. and the entrance rap from Mamaroneck Road to the southbound road to be closed until 10 a.m.

Bamberg was issued summonses for having a commercial vehicle on a restricted parkway and having an over-height vehicle on the parkway.