GUILDERLAND — An early morning accident left a man dead on Route 20 last Thursday.

Joseph Kochian, a United States Air Force veteran and clerk for the New York State Department of Labor, ran a red light on Route 20, at the intersection of Route 158, police say, and died in a three-car crash.
"It shook the whole house," said Paul Noland of the 7:31 a.m. crash. Noland has lived near that intersection for 12 years and sees an accident about once a month, he said, though never on this scale.

A box truck, similar to a U-Haul, was on top of a minivan when Noland went outside to see what was happening. And police took the door off of Kochian’s sedan in order to get him out, Noland said.
"They were working on one guy right in the road, then they took him away without the lights on" the ambulance, he said of Kochian. "I knew he was dead."

The Altamont Rescue squad took Kochian to Albany Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, and John Carpentier who drove the minivan, of Altamont, was taken to St. Peter’s for his injuries, police say. The truck driver, Scott Thompson, of Schenectady, wasn’t injured, according to Guilderland Police.

The road was closed for a few hours following the accident, said Sergeant Eric Batchelder, who responded to the scene on Thursday.

There are no criminal charges and alcohol did not appear to be a factor, according to police.