New Jersey Woman Critically Injured In 1-84 Crash
New Jersey Woman Critically Injured In 1-84 Crash
By Andrew Gorosko
A 21-year-old New Jersey woman was reported in critical condition Thursday morning in Danbury Hospital as a result of injuries she received in a serious motor vehicle accident on Interstate-84 on the night of Sunday, November 26.
The crash, which involved a tractor-trailer truck and an automobile with four occupants, required a passenger extrication from the automobile by Newtown Hook and Ladder and Hawleyville firefighters.
State police said they are investigating the collision which left Courtney E. Metzger of Fanwood, N.J., in critical condition in the hospital with head injuries. The four other people who were injured in the collision were treated at the hospital and then released, a hospital spokeswoman said.
State police said a 1992 International tractor-trailer truck driven by Shawn Taylor, 30, of White Stone, Va., was traveling eastbound on I-84 about 9:36 pm in an undetermined travel lane, just east of the highway overpass which crosses above The Boulevard Extension, when the truck jackknifed and then struck a concrete barrier rail alongside the right road shoulder.
The collision caused the truck to go across the highway and come to rest in the left travel lane, after which it was struck from behind by an eastbound 1990 Chevrolet Corsica sedan, state police said. The front end of the Chevrolet drove beneath the rear end of the truckâs trailer.
Cynthia Cochran, 22, of Boston, the driver of the Chevrolet, reported chest pain, state police said. Chevrolet passenger Melissa Cohen, 20, of Boston, reported knee and hand injuries. Passenger Patricia A. Lobo, 19, of Randolph, N.J., was evaluated at the hospital.
Mr Taylor, the truck driver, was evaluated at the hospital.
The Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Stony Hill ambulance staffers from Bethel transported the victims to the hospital.
The accident occurred at the end of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend during which area roads carry heavy traffic volumes. The accident created extensive traffic backups in the eastbound travel lanes of I-84.