Route 120 reopens after crash in Hanover

By TRIS WYKES

Valley News Staff Writer

Published: 10-09-2019 12:38 PM

HANOVER — Dartmouth College football coach Buddy Teevens usually spots his wife, Kirsten, during the latter stages of his team’s practices on Memorial Field.

Kirsten Teevens often arrives to chat and bring her husband dinner in a small bag. Often it’s chicken and rice with a baguette from his favorite bakery.

So when Buddy Teevens saw his wife approaching early in Tuesday’s workout, his curiosity was piqued. The coach’s heart sank when he drew closer and realized Kirsten was crying. Their daughter and the older of their two children, Lindsay Teevens Knittle, had been involved in a two-car crash around 4 p.m. on Route 120 near its intersection with Greensboro Road.

The Teevens parents left practice and sped past the crash scene to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where their daughter was strapped down and in a neck brace. Dad broke the ice with a small joke.

“You’re a Teevens, so we know you can take a hit,” said Buddy Teevens, a Dartmouth football standout during the late 1970s.

Lindsay, a 2004 Palo Alto (Calif.) High graduate who played volleyball and soccer there, laughed and after spending about an hour alongside her, the coach returned for the end of his team’s workout.

“My wife’s distraught but look at what the other outcome could have been,” he said. “We could’ve lost our daughter.”

Buddy Teevens, 62 and in his 20th season as Dartmouth’s head coach spread over two stints, said Knittle was driving out of Hanover by herself.

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She is a married Lebanon resident, the mother of two young children and a Lebanon High girls soccer assistant coach.

Buddy Teevens said his daughter was knocked unconscious by the crash, which left the family’s Volkswagen Beetle up against a tree on the street’s east side and with its airbags deployed. The white vehicle is painted to resemble one of Dartmouth’s iconic football helmets, with their instantly-recognizable four stripes and block D.

Knittle was driving that car because her own is in the shop, Buddy Teevens said. The crash’s other vehicle, a minivan, wound up on its roof, roughly 100 yards to the north of the Volkswagen.

“Someone dragged her out and gave her CPR, although I’m not sure if she needed it,” said Buddy Teevens, who left his office in the Floren Varsity House shortly after 8 p.m. to return to DHMC. “That’s the goodness of the community we live in.”

Knittle was expected to remain hospitalized overnight and suffered bruising and a possible concussion, but no broken bones, her father said. He added that while police officials were extremely helpful during his visit, they offered little information on the collision or the second vehicle’s driver, other than to say that person was not seriously injured.

The minivan was driven by Edgar Parrado, 53, of Etna, who transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, police said in a news release on Tuesday night.

The manner and cause of the crash  are under investigation. Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to call the Hanover police.

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