Morning Rush—

Five Vehicles Collide In South Main Street Accident

By Andrew Gorosko

At about 7:35 am Monday, at the height of the morning rush, five vehicles, including two heavy trucks, were involved in an accident at 75 South Main Street in front of Newtown Exxon Service Center.

Fortunately, the accident, which resulted in wreckage being strewn across a broad section of the road, resulted in only relatively minor injuries to one man who was driving a sedan.

Police Sergeant Aaron Bahamonde said that considering the volume of traffic on the road at that time of day and the relatively small size of several vehicles involved in the crash, it is fortunate that only one driver received relatively minor injuries in the accident.

The motorists involved in the crash were wearing seatbelts and their protective airbags deployed.

During the hour that it took to clean up the debris and tow away the damaged vehicles, police diverted traffic onto the nearby Elm Drive, allowing motorists traveling on South Main Street (Route 25) to make a quick detour around the accident scene.  

Newtown Hook & Ladder firefighters and Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps members responded to the emergency.

The accident involved a heavy empty tri-axle dump truck, a tractor-trailer truck loaded with cardboard, a sport-utility vehicle, and two sedans. Each of the five vehicles carried only its driver.

The crash remains under investigation. Police expect to file charges against the tractor-trailer truck driver.

Police provided a preliminary account of what occurred.  

Trucker Theodore Smith, 50, of 96 Huntingtown Road, who was driving a 1978 Mack heavy dump truck southward on South Main Street, stopped and was waiting for northbound traffic to clear so that he could make a left turn into the Exxon gas station, police said.

Tractor-trailer truck driver Dana Sherman, 39, of Rockville was also southbound. She was driving a 1999 Mack behind the dump truck, then swerved to the left and into the northbound lane in order to avoid driving into the rear end of the stopped dump truck, police said. The tractor-trailer truck, however, made glancing contact with the dump truck.

As the tractor-trailer truck entered the northbound lane, it collided with a northbound 2002 Jeep Wrangler driven by Michael Cannella, 29, of Fairfield, and also hit a northbound 2003 Nissan Altima driven by Eric Farrell, 39, of Trumbull, police said.

Following that, the northbound Nissan entered the southbound lane and collided with a southbound 2001 Mitsubishi Mirage driven by Michael Forestieri, 21, of 8 Diamond Drive, police said. The Mitsubishi had been traveling behind the tractor-trailer truck.

Ambulance staffers and firefighters helped Farrell climb out of the Nissan, after which he was transported to Danbury Hospital to be treated for relatively minor injuries, after which he was released.

After the crash, police blocked the wreckage-strewn South Main Street at its two intersections with Elm Drive. Although the accident caused travel delays, motorists had a relatively short detour on Elm Drive to get around the crash.

Police Patrol Officer Felicia Figol investigated the accident.

Hook & Ladder Fire Chief Ray Corbo said that no motorist extrication was needed at the accident. Firefighters spread absorbent material on automotive fluid spills, which included coolant/antifreeze, he said. Some of the spilled fluids had entered a stormwater drain in the area. The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was notified of the spill, Chief Corbo said.

Firefighters disconnected vehicle batteries as a preventative against vehicle fires.