4 killed in wrong-way crash in Connecticut

STRATFORD, Conn. (WFSB/Gray News) - Four people were killed in a crash on the Merritt Parkway in Stratford, Connecticut, early Thursday morning.

State police identified three of the victims as Steven Rowland, 65, Thomas Lucian Vitale, 80, and Olga Vitale, 81, all of Easton. They were in one vehicle.

The fourth person, who was the driver of the second vehicle involved, has yet to be identified.

According to state police, the two-vehicle collision happened on Route 15 south around 1:45 a.m.

Troopers said they received multiple reports of a wrong-way driver in the area of Exit 52. Dispatchers were then told of the fiery, head-on collision that resulted.

Investigators said the vehicle with Rowland and the Vitales was traveling in the right direction on Route 15 south when the driver of the second vehicle headed northbound in the southbound lanes and hit their vehicle. The second driver’s vehicle then burst into flames.

All four people involved were pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy will determine the identity of the second driver, state police said.

The highway was closed for seven hours. At one point, both side of the highway were closed.

A trooper was involved in a separate collision while responding to the call and suffered minor injuries.

A passerby stopped a vehicle in the roadway in an attempt to help at the scene of the initial crash. Initial reports indicated that the passerby’s vehicle was stopped with no lights on, state police said.

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