A Connecticut State Police trooper’s dash camera caught the tense moments a wrong-way driver crashed into him on Route 8 in Waterbury.
It happened Tuesday after 1 a.m. on Route 8 North. The driver was reported to state police as driving the wrong way, heading southbound in the left northbound lane.
“We have troopers that work throughout the state that work the highway construction projects that are going on, and so they monitor that troop area’s radio, and in this instance, that trooper heard the radio call for the wrong-way driver,” Trooper First Class Pedro Muñiz said. “As he approaches the area, he begins to slow down and stop in the left lane because he sees the headlights coming.”
The video shows the trooper veering his trooper left to stop the driver who crashed his Toyota Prius into the trooper’s cruiser.
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“There’s no right way to do it. We try the best way in that situation. And in this situation, the trooper used his vehicle to stop that wrong way driver. Thank God that vehicle did slow down a little bit to not cause a serious accident,” Muñiz said. “Oftentimes we have to put ourselves in harm’s way to prevent and protect others from getting injured.”
State police said the driver was an elderly man who, after the crash, appeared disoriented and was taken to the hospital.
“The tip that we can give is just have that conversation with your loved one. We know it’s a difficult conversation, we understand there are some people out there that say, ‘You have to rip the license out of my hand’ or ‘Pry it out of my hand.’ But have that conversation with them,” Muñiz said.
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The driver was cited, and according to state police data, there have been eight citations so far this year for wrong-way drivers on state highways. In 2023, the total was 46.
The Department of Transportation continues to install wrong-way detection systems across the state, and already they’ve stopped several drivers from making it onto the highway.
“They are new, but we believe it’s going to be a great tool for us to get that early warning of a wrong-way driver so that we can get troopers, we can get officers there as soon as possible to help prevent accidents from occurring," Muñiz said.
AAA echoed the sentiment that families need to have tough conversations with aging loved ones, saying it’s important to lead with empathy and kindness.
“When you're with your elderly family members, maybe ask them to drive and it could be something as simple as going to pick up, take out or them driving to a doctor's appointment and you tagging along. That way you can evaluate how that senior does behind the wheel and if it's time to reevaluate their skills,” Tracy Noble of AAA said. “People should start talking about their driving retirement just like they would talk about their retirement from their career. So, you need to have a plan and you need to know what that plan is.”
For resources from AAA, click here.
