81-year-old wrong-way driver on I-93 kills Haverhill man and injures 4 others, police say
One person was killed and a family of four was hospitalized after Massachusetts State Police say an 81-year-old wrong-way driver caused two crashes late Saturday night on Interstate 93 in Boston.
It happened just before midnight on I-93 north before Exit 15A.
State police said Antone Carvalho of Somerset was driving a 2004 Cadillac Escalade. He got onto I-93 North at Exit 15B and was driving southbound in the northbound lanes.
A short time later, police say a Honda Odyssey and Audi A4 tried to avoid Carvahlo and crashed. All four family members from the Honda were taken to a Boston-area hospital for evaluation.
Moments later, police say Carvahlo slammed head-on into a Chevy Cruze being driven by a Haverhill man.
That man was rushed to the hospital but did not survive. On Monday, Suffolk Count DA Kevin Hayden identified him as 28-year-old Riley Sergi.
"I extend my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Mr. Sergi and I assure them that the investigation of this tragic crash will be careful and thorough," Hayden said.
Carvahlo was also hospitalized. Massachusetts State Police said he will be issued a summons to appear in court at a later date.
The Suffolk County District Attorney told WBZ-TV that it is standard practice in a traffic case for a driver to be summonsed and not arrested when impairment is not an apparent factor.
Dashboard camera records wrong-way driver
Video from Ed Murray's dashboard camera showed headlights going the wrong way on the busy road.
"I looked to my right, mercifully, there was no cars there. I whipped my truck over to the middle lane, and he blew right past us. Then we came upon a car that he had clipped about 100 yards [up the road]," Murray said.
Murray says he and his family were heading home from a party in Quincy when he had to make the split-second lane change, noticing headlights traveling towards him.
"It just very scary," said his daughter Samantha, who was in the back seat. "It's sad how many people are involved in this, and it's just heartbreaking for everyone."
"Something's got to be done obviously," Ed Murray added. "This has been what, four, five [wrong-way crashes] in the last month and a half. It's gotta stop sometime, and people gotta stop losing their lives."
Massachusetts wrong-way crashes
Saturday's crash is the latest in a series of wrong-way incidents in the state. Massachusetts is working on a "massive expansion" of its wrong-way driving prevention system as it seeks to curb similar crashes.
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Kevin Trainor was killed in May while trying to stop a wrong-way driver on Route 1 in Lynnfield.
Just under a month later, a wrong-way driver crashed into a state police cruiser on Route 1 in Peabody, and was later taken into ICE custody on his way to court.
A driver who fled a traffic stop was killed in a wrong-way crash on Route 146 in Millbury on June 20. Then on Wednesday night, a wrong-way driver was killed in a fiery crash in Northboro.
MassDOT said new cameras around Massachusetts will create "detection zones" to identify drivers going the wrong way up a ramp and trigger the prevention system. The system is being implemented throughout this year and next.
"We've seen a real troubling spike in them as of late," said Mark Scheildrop from AAA Northeast. "There's really no room for error in those situations. And the impacts are more severe, so the outcomes are much worse."
