Trooper, three others injured in I-91 crash

HARTFORD — A car struck a patrol car at a highway construction zone in Hartford Tuesday night, sparking a chain-reaction crash that injured a trooper and three others, state police said.

The crash happened just before 9:40 p.m. on I-91 south near Exit 27, they said.

The trooper was sitting in a parked police car in the left lane, its rear emergency lights on, behind two occupied, parked pickup trucks.

Orange cones had been placed well ahead of the zone, as were signs warning drivers about the lane closures, police said.

Still, James Cruz, 42, of Meriden drove a 2007 Saturn Aura XE into the construction zone, striking a Jersey barrier on the left side of the highway, state police said.

The Saturn also struck the left side of the police car, which hit the back of a Toyota Tacoma.

The pickup then struck the back of another Tacoma parked in front of it.

All four drivers were taken to Hartford Hospital: Trooper Chandler Daniel Chasse, 23, of the Troop H barracks and pickup drivers Joao Paiva, 57, of Shelton and Manuel P. Freitas, 54, of Waterbury had what police said appeared to be minor injuries.

Cruz, the driver of the Saturn, had more serious injuries, including a head injury, but was expected to survive, state police said.

It was one in a series of rear-end crashes with police vehicles on Connecticut highways. The most recent happened March 31 on the same highway in Rocky Hill. No one was seriously injured.

In 2010, a state trooper died when a pickup truck slammed into his police car during a traffic stop on I-91 in Enfield.

Trooper Kenneth Hall was doing paperwork in the cruiser when it was struck. He died at the scene.