The Memorial Day holiday weekend got off to a rough start in southern New England, where numerous accidents -- including several fatalities -- have been reported since Friday.
Police have responded to several fatal accidents in southern New England since Friday, including a deadly crash in Springfield that claimed the life of an elderly woman in Pine Point.The Memorial Day weekend got off to a rocky start in Connecticut and the eastern part of the Bay State, where several fatalities were reported since the start of the long weekend. But local police said Western Massachusetts roads were looking pretty good as of Sunday morning, despite a fatal collision Friday in Springfield's Pine Point neighborhood and multiple accidents.
Among the more serious accidents was a Saturday afternoon rollover crash near the state police barracks on the Springfield rotary, but the driver in that incident luckily wasn't seriously injured, according to Springfield Police Officer Robert Kalin, a member of the city's traffic bureau.
Kalin said things have been relatively quiet since Friday, when an elderly Springfield woman was killed in a two-car collision around 1 p.m. on Tapley Street. Police have yet to identify the woman, who was with her "next of kin" at the time of the Pine Point crash, according to Kalin, who didn't know her name.
"As far as (Springfield) is concerned, we've been pretty good -- knock on wood," he said late Sunday morning.
Shortly after the officer made that remark, however, city police were called to the scene of another rollover accident on Springfield Street. The driver and passengers in the single-vehicle crash reportedly were able to free themselves from the accident, which was reported at 1 p.m. and required police to close Springfield Street at Caseland Street. Additional information wasn't immediately available.
Elsewhere in the state, a fatal I-95 crash in Burlington forced the closure of a northbound stretch of highway for several hours Sunday morning. The crash was reported around 1:43 a.m. and northbound lanes were reopened shortly before 5 a.m., police said.
The 46-year-old victim wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from his 2000 Land Rover Discovery, which rolled over during the crash, police said. A preliminary investigation indicates he may have been speeding, said David Procopio, a state police spokesman.
The man's identity is being withheld pending notification of his family, Procopio said.
State police also were investigating another fatal crash early Sunday morning on Interstate-195 East in Swansea, where a 40-year-old pedestrian from Fall River was killed around 3:12 a.m. by a Cadillac Deville driven by 48-year-old Julian Juan of New Bedford.
Police are investigating whey the pedestrian was on the highway.
Connecticut, meanwhile, has had several serious driving accidents since the start of the holiday weekend, including three separate fatal crashes early Saturday morning; a Saturday night collision involving a Windsor Locks police cruiser and a motorcycle; and a motorcycle accident in Meriden reported shortly before 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
The Saturday evening accident was reported around 9:27, when a cruiser driven by Windsor Locks Police Officer Officer Andrew Dzierzgowski collided with a motorcycle ridden by Donald MacPherson.
The officer was treated at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, while MacPherson, of Windsor Locks, was treated at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford. Both men were later released.