‘Reckless and ignorant’ truck driver charged after hitting over a dozen overpasses on the New York State Thruway, troopers say

Shortly before 2 p.m. on March 18, 2026, troopers responded to a New York Thruway Authority report of overpass strikes caused by a commercial truck hauling an over-height excavator on a flatbed trailer while driving west between Exits 30 and 36. Troopers located the suspect vehicle and performed a traffic stop on the 2019 Freightliner in the town of Salina. The truck driver was identified as Oleksander Tarakanovskyi, 38, of North Carolina. NYSP investigators determined that the over-height load had struck more than a dozen overpasses along a sixty mile stretch of the New York State Thruway. Troopers say that...