One person has died after a fiery crash involving a tractor-trailer and a car in New Haven early Saturday morning and police are working to determine if the collision may be related to illegal street racing.
Emergency crews responded to the intersection of Foxon Boulevard and Middletown Avenue around 3:30 a.m. for a report of a two-vehicle crash.
At the scene, police said they found a BMW that had hit a tractor-trailer. The collision caused a fire and damaged both vehicles. As firefighters were extinguishing the car fire, the high flames burned out the power lines.
According to police, the driver of the BMW was pulled from the vehicle by a passerby. The 22-year-old New Britain man was transported to Yale New Haven Hospital where he later died. His identity has not been released.
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The driver of the tractor-trailer was able to exit the vehicle after the collision and was not injured.
According to fire officials, the tractor-trailer was filled with compacted cardboard and firefighters worked for hours to extinguish the flames.
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"Not only do you have the compacted cardboard. This is the one section of the city where hydrants are a little scarce, only because you have the highways crossing, you have the river, so there was a lot of hose laid to make up for the lack of hydrants," said New Haven Fire Department Assistant Chief Dan Coughlin.
The crash also caused 100 gallons of diesel fuel to spill into a nearby water way. The state Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Coast Guard have been notified and are working to mitigate the spill.
The cause of the crash is under investigation and police are trying to determine if it may be connected to illegal street racing.
"We are investigating whether there is any connection to this crash with reports of illegal street racing. If we establish a link between the two, we will be looking to make arrests of any involved individuals," New Haven Police Department Chief Karl Jacobson said.
Anyone who may have witnessed the collision is asked to contact investigators at (203) 946-6304 or the anonymous tip line at 866-888-TIPS.
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