1 Killed In Fiery Crash In Wallingford: UPDATE

WALLINGFORD, CT — One person was killed in a two-vehicle crash early Tuesday morning on Route 5 in Wallingford, according to police.

The crash happened around 4:40 a.m. on South Colony Road at its intersection with South Elm Street and involved a 2004 Mercedes-Benz C320 and 2020 Freightliner Cascadia Tractor-Trailer combination, according to Deputy Chief Anthony DeMaio.

Arriving officers found the Mercedes-Benz severely damaged, with its driver trapped inside.

“As the officers attempted to gain entrance and help the operator, the vehicle caught fire,” DeMaio wrote in a news release. “The officers bravely extinguished the fire, but were unable to gain entry into the vehicle due to the severity of the damage.”

The driver was identified as Jesse S. Brown-Guillen, 26, of Wallingford. Brown-Guillen, who was ultimately extricated from the vehicle by the Wallingford Fire Department, died at the scene from injuries sustained in the collision, according to DeMaio.

The driver of the Freightliner truck was working for the Infra-Metals Company, a large structural steel provider at 8 Pent Highway in Wallingford, and was hauling a 53-foot flatbed trailer loaded with structural steel, according to DeMaio.

DeMaio said both Infra-Metals and the driver have been “fully cooperative” with the investigation.

The investigation, which is ongoing, found that Brown-Guillen was traveling westbound on South Elm Street before the collision.

“As Mr. Brown-Guillen approached the signalized intersection of South Elm Street and South Colony Road, he failed to come to a stop, crossed over the two northbound travel lanes of South Colony Road and entered the southbound travel lanes where he encountered the trailer portion of the Infra-Metals tractor-trailer combination, which was traveling southbound,” DeMaio wrote in the news release. “The Mercedes-Benz collided with the loaded trailer, pushing the trailer westward in to the metal beam guardrail along the western edge of the roadway. The Mercedes-Benz was then dragged southward for a short distance before the two vehicles separated, with the tractor-trailer coming to a stop just south of the point of impact. The force of the collision caused the load to shift, and several large pieces of structural steel to spill out on to the roadway.”

South Colony Road was closed to traffic for several hours while the Wallingford Police Department’s Traffic Division reconstructed the collision. The Connecticut State Police Collision Analysis Reconstruction (CARS) and Truck Squads provided specialized assistance in the investigation, according to DeMaio.

Anyone who witnessed the collision is asked to call Officer James Knowlton at 203-294-2818 or Officer Christian Evans at 203-294-2819.

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