A tanker truck hauling 12,000 gallons of gasoline overturned at the intersection of Old Country Road and Clinton Road in Garden City on Monday night, spilling roughly 200 gallons of fuel before crews managed to stop the leak. One person was taken to the hospital, and the crash triggered a hazardous materials response along one of central Long Island's busiest commercial corridors.
The Westbury Fire Department was dispatched to the scene just after 8 p.m., where responders found the fully loaded tanker resting on its side, according to News 12 Long Island. Officials said much of the spilled gasoline was contained at the scene, and the leak was believed to have stopped after about 200 gallons had escaped the tanker, which had been carrying a full load before it overturned during the accident, per ABC7 New York.
The Nassau County Fire Marshal's Hazardous Materials Division was called in to assist at the overturned tanker, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation was notified of the spill, the outlet reported. That notification aligns with state rules requiring immediate reports to the DEC's Spill Hotline whenever a petroleum spill exceeds five gallons or cannot be contained and cleaned up within two hours, according to guidance compiled by St. Lawrence University.
Why the Spill Stayed Small
Despite the tanker's massive capacity, only a fraction of its cargo escaped the wreck. Standard U.S. fuel tankers built to DOT-406 and MC-306 specifications are designed with aluminum shells, internal bulkheads, emergency shutoff valves, and rollover protection meant to prevent a full breach during a crash, per technical background from Elan Fuels. Those built-in safeguards likely explain why Monday's rollover leaked around 200 gallons rather than the truck's full 12,000-gallon payload.
The scene remained active following the crash, and officials warned the accident would cause traffic disruptions in the area. One person was hurt in the crash and taken to the hospital, though further details on that injury were not immediately available. The exact cause of the rollover, whether driver error, mechanical failure, or an evasive maneuver, has not been determined.
A Corridor With a History of Close Calls
Old Country Road, designated Nassau County Route 25, and Clinton Road, designated County Route 1, form a major county-maintained intersection near the historic Old Roosevelt Field area, according to a route listing on Wikipedia. The stretch is one of central Long Island's most heavily traveled commercial corridors, with some sections carrying between 30,000 and more than 90,000 vehicles a day, per commercial traffic data cited by LoopNet.
Village of Garden City Traffic Commission records from September 2025 show that Old Country Road and Clinton Road function as key perimeter routes around the village's Mott Section, where local officials have already been evaluating traffic calming measures and commercial vehicle monitoring. A 10-year crash study covering 2014 through 2023 identified major arteries like Old Country Road among the region's leading corridors for high collision counts and severe injuries, according to Newsday.
Monday's rollover is not the first serious tanker incident to rattle Nassau County. In February 2022, a fully loaded 12,000-gallon gasoline tanker overturned and exploded into a fireball along Sunrise Highway in nearby Rockville Centre, destroying a vacant building and drawing help from 18 fire departments, per the Associated Press. More recently, in March 2026, an overturned tanker spilled roughly 2,800 gallons of heating oil across Jericho Turnpike and Woodbury Road, forcing extensive multi-lane closures and an emergency cleanup, according to Newsday.
Nassau County averages more than 800 hospitalizations a year from motor vehicle crashes and recorded 81 traffic deaths in 2022, according to countywide safety data cited by legal researchers at Ajlouny Injury Law. Cleanup and environmental monitoring at the Clinton Road intersection were ongoing as of Monday night, with the extent of any longer-term soil or drainage remediation required by the state DEC still unclear.
