Dozens Of Vehicles Collide In Massive I-84 Accident On Snowy Thanksgiving

By Andrew Gorosko

Early on Thanksgiving morning, Thursday, November 24, as heavy snow fell during a late autumn storm, more than 26 vehicles were involved in a massive accident on an icy eastbound Interstate 84.

The eastbound lanes were then closed to traffic for more than three hours as emergency service workers picked through the wreckage.

The huge accident, which was actually a series of smaller multiple-vehicle accidents that occurred in the same general area in rapid sequence, took place at the I-84 bridges that cross above Hanover Road and The Boulevard Extension. Wreckage from the multiple crashes was strewn across a lengthy area. Motorists from at least 11 states were involved, according to state police.

The incident was the largest auto accident in the area in memory.

State police estimate that more than 75 people, including drivers and passengers, were involved in the multiple crashes that were first reported at 3:47 am. State police received more than 15 Emergency 911 calls.

After 15 or more injured people were transported to Danbury Hospital, and the many wrecked vehicles were towed away, I-84’s eastbound lanes reopened to traffic at about 7:05 am. Most of the injuries were relatively minor, with the worst injury involving a person with a broken ankle.

Hawleyville and Newtown Hook & Ladder firefighters, as well as the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, plus other ambulance services, were called to the accident scene. About 25 firefighters responded.

State Trooper Edward Benecchi, who was one of the four troopers who investigated, said this week it is unclear which vehicle was involved in the initial accident that led to the chain-reaction situation that caused approaching vehicles to become involved in multiple-vehicle collisions. Some vehicles were involved in multiple impacts, he said.

At the time of the accident, it was snowing and the roads were snow-covered and icy. All of the impacts occurred within several minutes’ time, Trooper Benecchi said.

All told, somewhere between 30 and 40 vehicles likely were involved in the mishap, he said. Some of the motorists experienced only minor problems, such as spin-outs, and then drove off. State police documented 26 vehicles having been involved in the incident. No life-threatening injuries were caused by the huge accident, the trooper said.

Due to the snowy conditions, motorists were driving more slowly than normal at the time of the crash, he said. Many of the motorists later received verbal warnings from state police for traveling too fast for conditions.

When emergency staffers arrived, some of the damaged vehicles were vacant, so state police and firefighters searched the area to find people who were involved in the crash, but had left their vehicles.

“It’s the most [vehicles] I’ve ever seen in an accident,” Trooper Benecchi said.

Many of the vehicles had heavy front-end damage and needed to be towed away, he said.

Newtown police shut down I-84’s Exit 9 on-ramp, and Danbury police closed down the Exit 8 on-ramp to prevent traffic from entering the closed eastbound I-84.

The accident occurred in the Hawleyville fire district, with Fire Chief Paul Basso serving as incident commander.

Chief Basso said that wreckage from the crash was spread out over an area of about one-eighth of a mile. The wreckage was on the I-84 roadway bridges that pass over Hanover Road and The Boulevard Extension, as well as near those bridges, he said. Chief Basso said he had never seen an accident involving so many vehicles.

Firefighters broke open one automobile door to free a person who was trapped inside that vehicle, Chief Basso said.

Hook & Ladder Fire Chief Ray Corbo said of the weather conditions at the time of the accident, “It was very, very treacherous.” He estimated that about a half-dozen tractor-trailer trucks were involved in the accident, besides multiple autos and sport-utility vehicles. A state Department of Transportation (DOT) snowplow truck was also involved in the accident.

Chief Corbo likened the colliding vehicles on the highway to billiard balls crashing off of one another on a pool table.

The town enlisted the aid of LeReine Frampton, a town school bus driver, to transport stranded motorists from the interstate. Ms Frampton transported to her home a party of four people who were traveling in a vehicle that was involved in the crash. The four travelers, who are from the Danbury area, were later retrieved by a friend.