Car Leaves Snowy Road,
Woman Killed, Man Hurt
By Sandy Cooch

A 76-year-old woman from Connecticut and Pittsfield was killed when the vehicle she was in slid off a snow-covered road and into a tree late last Wednesday afternoon in Pittsfield.

Greta A. Salegna, a passenger in the vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene of the single-car crash on Upper Michigan Road, according to a press release from the state police barracks in Rutland.

Her husband, Nicholas P. Salegna, 75, the driver, was seriously injured. He was airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. with a broken neck and pelvis and several broken ribs, police said.

Yesterday, one week after the crash, Nicholas Salegna remained in serious condition, a DHMC spokeswoman said.

The accident was reported at 4:50 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17, when a passing motorist spotted the Salegnas' 2003 Subaru Forester down an embankment on the south side of Upper Michigan Road.

Police said the vehicle was about 18 feet from the roadway, down a steep embankment.

Police said it appeared that the vehicle had been westbound on Upper Michigan Road when Salegna lost control of his Subaru, which slid off the snow- and ice-covered roadway. The passenger side of the car struck a tree and Greta Salegna, the lone passenger, was thrown from the vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

In their report, police said it was unknown if the couple had been using their seatbelts. The vehicle was destroyed in the crash.

The crash remains under investigation and anyone with information is asked to call state police in Rutland at 802-773-9101.

An obituary for Greta Salegna appears in the B-section of this week’s Herald.

Nicholas Salegna and his wife, from New London, Conn., bought their Michigan Road property in 1990, according to Pittsfield Town Clerk Patty Haskins said.

Prior to that, Mr. Salegna had a camp elsewhere in town, and had been coming to Pittsfield to hunt for around 30 years, Pittsfield resident Lettie Fifield said yesterday. Since the Salegnas bought their new property, they came to Pittsfield for vacations as well as for hunting season, Fifield said.

In addition to state police, Pittsfield First Response, the Pittsfield Fire Department, Killington Fire and Rescue, White River Junction Emergency Medical Services and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Air Response Team responded to the scene.