Date: Fri 22-Aug-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

police-accident-I-84-fatality

Full Text:

I-84 Head-On Crash Claims Two Lives

w/cuts

Two men were killed and three seriously injured early on the morning of August

16 when a car going the wrong way on Interstate-84 collided head-on with

another car, causing an explosion and fire.

The harrowing accident occurred about 4 am in the eastbound lanes of I-84, in

the area where the highway passes over Hanover Road.

State police are still investigating the cause of the crash. They theorize

that motorist Carlos H. Berrios, 22, of 68 Hoyt Hill Road, Bethel, who was

driving a 1986 Honda coupe, mistakenly got onto the eastbound lanes of the

highway, possibly at Exit 10, and traveled westward until he collided with

eastbound motorist Daniel M. Askew, Jr, 20, of 75 Bedford Avenue, Bridgeport,

who was driving a 1989 Oldsmobile sedan.

Berrios was killed in the collision due to multiple blunt force and thermal

injuries.

Askew was critically injured.

A passenger in the Oldsmobile, James E. Jennings, Jr, 21, of 91 Butler Avenue,

Bridgeport, also died of multiple blunt force injuries.

Two other passengers in the Oldsmobile were injured. They are Shawn L. Cox,

20, of 36 Hansen Avenue, Bridgeport, and Hassen K. Porter, 18, of 33 Hanover

Street, Bridgeport.

The accident took place approximately eight-tenths of a mile west of the

Schoolhouse Hill Road overpass.

State police, Newtown police, the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps and

firefighters from Hawleyville and Newtown Hook and Ladder went to the scene.

Acting Sergeant James Mooney and patrol officers Dominick Salvatore and Aaron

Bahamonde responded from the Newtown police.

When police first arrived on the scene, they were unable to detect a pulse on

Mr Berrios.

Town and state police attempted to extinguish the burning Honda in which Mr

Berrios was trapped. Flames shot out from under the car's engine compartment

and the car became totally engulfed in fire.

A rear seat passenger in the Oldsmobile was pulled from the car by a passerby.

Mr Askew, the driver, had to be extricated from that car by firefighters.

The accident caused extended traffic delays and detours lasting about five

hours. Eastbound vehicles were diverted off the highway at Exit 9. A sign

posted at the Main Street flagpole informed truckers not to go eastbound on

Church Hill Road due to the low-clearance railroad overpass.

On Thursday morning, Mr Askew was in critical condition, Mr Cox was in serious

condition, and Mr Porter was in fair condition in Danbury Hospital, according

to a hospital spokeswoman.

State police reportedly received telephone calls that a car was traveling in

the wrong direction on the highway before the accident occurred. They were

trying to locate the car at the time the accident occurred.