Waterbury Man Killed In One-Car Crash On I-84

By Andrew Gorosko

A Waterbury man died Friday, March 14, in a predawn, one-car accident on eastbound Interstate 84, between Exits 9 and 10, state police report.

State police said Yeshaya S. Twersky, 20, of 359 Cooke Street, Waterbury, was alone and driving a 1999 Chevrolet Lumina four-door sedan eastward on I-84, about one and one-half miles east of Exit 9 at about 4:39 am, when the Chevrolet veered from the highway’s travel lanes and struck a tree in the highway’s center median. The collision extensively damaged to automobile, killing Mr Twersky, state police said.

Hawleyville firefighters, Newtown ambulance personnel, and a regional paramedic responded to the accident, which required an extrication. Hawleyville firefighters were at the accident scene for about two and one-half hours.

Following the accident, Mr Twersky’s body was transported to the chief state medical examiner’s office in Farmington for an autopsy.

That autopsy found that multiple blunt force injuries caused the accidental death, according to a medical examiner’s spokeswoman. Toxicology tests will be performed as part of the post mortem analysis, she said.

Mr Twersky was a student at Yeshiva Gedolah, a Hebrew School for Orthodox Jews located on Cooke Street in Waterbury.

As state police investigated the fatality in the highway median, both eastbound and westbound motorists slowed down to view the accident scene, creating travel delays through the morning rush period.

The travel delays on the highway prompted motorists to leave I-84, seeking alternate routes on local roads, resulting in traffic backup on those streets. Normal travel conditions resumed at about 9 am.

The fatality remains under investigation, state police said.

In a related matter, at about 4:15 pm that same day, state police said they observed a Ford Taurus being driven recklessly and at high speeds, with emergency lights flashing and a siren in use, while the Ford was traveling westward near Exit 10 of I-84.

State police said the driver of that vehicle, Baruch Friedman, 39, of New Square, Rockland County, N.Y., was transporting Mr Twersky’s body to New York for Mr Twersky’s survivors.

State police charged Mr Friedman with reckless driving, unauthorized use of emergency lights, and using a siren without a permit.

State police released Mr Friedman on a $700 bond for a March 24 appearance in Danbury Superior Court to answer the charges.