A vehicle struck a state police cruiser stationed on Interstate 91 northbound in Hartford after crashing with several other cars while coming upon slowed traffic on the highway.
Driver Timothy Magierowski, 31, of Enfield, was attempting to move left from the left center lane to avoid police activity when Elmarie Aviles, 35, of Bridgeport, of Bridgeport, sideswiped his driver's side door in her Nissan Altima while swerving to avoid rear-ending slowing traffic ahead in the left lane, state police said.
Jerking the wheel left and then turning it too much to the right, she then hit a Honda in the right center lane driven by Orion K. Petenaude, 25, of Agawam, Massachusetts, state police said. That caused Petenaude's car to spin out, getting T-boned by a Chevrolet Colbalt driven by Richard R. Bourt, of Milford, in the process, according to state police.
Meanwhile, Aviles continued sliding across three lanes of traffic and hit a parked state police cruiser in the right breakdown lane while Trooper Gregg Capps was making a traffic stop, state police said.
The trooper was transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries and any other injuries were minor, according to state police.
State police determined Aviles was at fault and cited her with traveling too fast and failure of an operator to move over when approaching a stationary emergency vehicle.
Traffic was limited to one lane on I-91 north between exits 32 and 33 for several hours.
The accident is under investigation.
