Branford F.D.
A Massachusetts driver leaving the Subway service plaza early Sunday morning apparently made a wide‑U turn onto I‑95 South, heading in the wrong direction and struck three oncoming cars. The woman, who was driving a 2009 Hyundai Elantra, died in a fiery crash near exit 53 in Branford.
According to state police, who are investigating the four-car accident, the fatal collision took place at about 12: 28 a.m. at the intersection of I‑95 Southbound and the southbound rest area, where the Subway restaurant and gas station is located.
Why the driver, a 55-year-old woman, wound up driving in the wrong direction on a major highway in the early hours of the morning, is a question the state police are now investigating.
According to Branford Fire Department Deputy Chief William Pepe, when Branford Fire Department ambulances reached the scene, “we were faced with multiple patients including one in traumatic cardiac arrest as well as others with what appeared to be life-threatening injuries.” The state police later reported that five people in two of the cars hit in the accident had non-life threatening injuries.
I‑95 southbound remained closed for approximately three hours while the Connecticut State Police conducted their investigation.
In all, six people involved in the four-car accident were taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital, including the driver, Mary E. Chiapulis of West Boylston, Mass., who was pronounced dead on arrival.
“One of the patients needed to be extricated from their vehicle using the Jaws of Life,” Pepe said. He did not identify the person.
According to a state police report, Franck Dalembert, who was driving his car in the left lane of three lanes, was the first to be struck by Chiapulis’s car. Dalembert, of Norwalk, and a passenger, Dionne McCarthy of Stratford, both suffered injuries and were hospitalized.
Three people were in the second car, also driving in the left lane behind Dalembert’s car.
The driver, Daniel Rizzo of Milford suffered injuries, as did his two passengers, Anthony Lazzara and Michael Hough, both from Ansonia.
According to a state police report, Chiapulis hit the first car’s “right side with its left side” then continued “in the wrong direction” and struck Rizzo’s car, “head on.” At that point, the third car in the left lane, behind Dalembert and Rizzo, “steered to the right to avoid” the oncoming car’s impact with Rizzo’s vehicle.
The report says that the impact between the Chiapulis and Rizzo cars caused Chiapulis “to be pushed back and spin towards the right lane.” At that point, Chiapulis struck the third car, a Jeep driven by Betsy Depalmer of Woodbridge. Neither Depalmer nor her three passengers suffered any apparent injuries.
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Sally E. Bahner contributed reporting for this story.
Publishing that picture is disrespectful to the families of the deceased and injured victims.