Update, 3:40 p.m. Thursday
The condition of the 18-year-old is improving, according to Sgt. Carol Ogrinc of the New Canaan Police Department. He’s still considered “critical” but stable, she said. All four motorists were wearing their seat belts, police said. None were ejected from their vehicle. Emergency responders extricated two, police said.
Original Article, 12 p.m. Monday
Though none of the four motorists involved in the four-car crash on Silvermine Road last Thursday evening have succumbed to injuries, one is in ‘critical’ condition at Yale-New Haven Hospital, officials say.
A vehicle involved in the 4-car accident on Silvermine Road in New Canaan on Oct. 30, 2014.
The 18-year-old Stamford man had sustained what emergency responders at first had called “life-threatening injuries” in the accident, which occurred at approximately 5:34 p.m. and about 375 feet east of the intersection of Silvermine at Little Brook and Clapboard Hill Roads.
The conditions of the other three motorists is not known, though they’re all alive, according to Sgt. Carol Ogrinc of the New Canaan Police Department.
One motor vehicle involved in the 4-car accident on Silvermine Road in New Canaan on the evening of Oct. 30, 2014.
None of them had passengers, she said. Police are withholding their names. In addition to the Stamford teen, who was driving a 2003 Subaru four-door, they are: a 50-year-old woman from New Canaan (2010 Chevrolet), 50-year-old man from Norwalk (2013 BMW four-door) and 41-year-old woman from Wilton (2011 Audi SUV), Ogrinc said.
Two of the vehicles—those operated by the New Canaan woman and Norwalk man—were traveling westbound on Silvermine Road (toward 123) and the two others were traveling eastbound, when the lead car in each lane had a head-on crash, according to preliminary findings from the accident reconstruction team, whose work is still underway, Ogrinc said. It isn’t clear which cars were involved in the head-on, Ogrinc said.
Air bags were deployed in each car, Ogrinc said. It isn’t clear whether the occupants were wearing seat belts, she said. At least one of the motorists was extricated from his or her vehicle, Ogrinc said. It isn’t clear whether police will pursue criminal charges, since the accident reconstruction is still underway, she said. Speed likely was a factor, officials said at the scene.
Why are the names of those involved in this accident being withheld?
My sense is that police will make those names public shortly and that the reason names have been withheld to this point is a combination of things—mostly that authorities err on the side of caution, understandably, in terms of family notifications. I’m also hearing that because of the crash’s severity and conditions of those involved, it has taken some time to pull together information—that since those involved in the crash were the only witnesses to it, and investigators have not been able to get everyone’s statement, that police are being very deliberate about releasing what they have. The teenager now is at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and police just obtained an update today on his condition and that took some time to get.
Jeff: I have some more information regarding the release of the names of those involved in the crash from the chief of police. Here: “We will not release any names or additional information until our criminal/accident investigation is completed. Releasing the names could compromise the investigation and we won’t let that happen. We will release more information and names once the investigation is completed.” -Mike