WAWAYANDA – Three people were killed in a crash between a car and
a tractor-trailer on I-84 in the Wawayanda area.
Killed in the crash were the occupants of the car, a 2006 Volkswagen Passat,
identified as the driver, Jesenia Valentin, 29, of Bridgeport, Connecticut,
and her nine-year-old daughter, Angelina Rodriguez, who was sitting in
the rear. The front seat passenger, another woman, has yet to be identified.
State Police said the incident occurred before 4 a.m. on I-84 westbound.
Captain Brendan Casey said the car ran out of gas in the right hand lane
and the driver put on her four-way flashers and called 911. As she reported
her situation, three minutes into the conversation, the 911 operator heard
a crash and a dog yelp and the phone went dead. Casey said.
Valentin was wearing her seatbelt. Her daughter and the other passenger
were not, he said.
The driver of the truck, Gino Ruggiero, 52, of Sugar Loaf, Pennsylvania,
was hauling a half-loaded Auto Zone truck back to his depot at the time
when he saw the car with its emergency lights on and thought it was moving.
Truck pushed the car across lanes and into the center median of
I-84
Casey said both the 911 operator and the truck driver, who was not injured,
were extremely upset about the incident.
The highway was shut down for eight hours between exits 3 and 2 during
the morning hours.
Casey said this tragedy illustrates how dangerous it is to leave your
disabled vehicle in the driving lanes of any road. Motorists should make
every effort to move their vehicle off the road and if they cannot, he
said they should step over the guard rail and as far away from the vehicle
as possible.
