Crash shut down I-84
east for 11 hours
TOWN OF KENT – An early morning crash between a car and a tractor-trailer claimed the life of a Beacon man and shut down Interstate 84 eastbound east of exit 17 at Ludingtonville Road in the Town of Kent for hours on Monday; it was reopened to traffic at around 2:30 p.m.
State Police identified the victim as Thomas Cipolla, 52, who was driving the car.
Police said that at about 3:50 a.m., Cipolla and a tractor-trailer hauling watermelons and driven by Sergio Khundiashvili, 36, of Brooklyn, were both eastbound when for unknown reasons the truck struck the median guard rail, jumped it and overturned, landing on the driver’s side.
Cipolla was behind and struck the underside of the tractor-trailer causing both vehicles to burst into flames.
Khundiashvili and a passerby pulled Cipolla from his car, but he was pronounced dead at Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel.
Khundiashvili and a passenger were transported to Danbury Hospital with minor injuries.
