A Monday night drive turned deadly on Interstate 691 when a Waterbury man lost control of his car and crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer. State police identified the driver as 67-year-old John Vincent Ireton Sr., who died shortly after being rushed to a nearby hospital.
It was just before 8:20 p.m. when dispatchers started getting calls about a serious wreck in Meriden. Officers rushed out to the westbound lanes near Exit 3, where they found Ireton’s car smashed against the rear of a massive commercial rig sitting along the shoulder.
According to the state troopers who handled the preliminary investigation, Ireton had been traveling down the far left lane. For reasons investigators are still trying to work out, his car suddenly drifted out of its lane and headed straight across traffic toward the right side of the highway.
The car crossed over the travel lanes and veered right onto the shoulder. It slammed hard into the metal beam guardrail lining the edge of the road before spinning into the back end of the tractor-trailer, which was moving in the right lane and along the shoulder.
First responders made it to the crash site quickly and managed to pull Ireton out of his damaged vehicle. Paramedics loaded him into an ambulance and drove him straight to MidState Hospital, but doctors could not save him and pronounced him dead a short time later.
The driver of the big rig was able to pull off safely and was not hurt in the collision. Troopers kept the area cordoned off for hours on Monday evening, blocking traffic while reconstruction teams measured tire marks and cleared away shattered glass and metal.
State police out of Troop I are still putting together the pieces to figure out what caused Ireton to lose control in the first place. They are asking anyone who was driving on I-691 around 8:20 p.m., saw the crash happen, or has dash camera footage of the vehicles involved to call them at 203-393-4200.
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