2 Killed In Wrong-Way Crash On I-84 In Manchester

MANCHESTER, CT — Two people were killed early Saturday morning in a wrong-way crash involving three cars on Interstate 84 in Manchester, according to Connecticut State Police.

Authorities said the crash happened shortly before 4:30 a.m. on eastbound I-84 just west of Exit 62. According to police, an Audi Q7 driven by a 44-year-old Hartford woman, Brenda L. Mendrell, was traveling the wrong way on eastbound I-84 when it collided head-on with a tractor-trailer driven by a 73-year-old New Hampshire man.

According to police, the Audi was pushed into the center lane, where it collided with a box truck driven by a 36-year-old Hartford man.

Police said the tractor-trailer came to a stop across all three lanes of traffic, while the box truck and the Audi stopped in the HOV lane.

According to police, the driver of the Audi, Mendrell, and a passenger, Jermyra D. Cortes, 44, suffered fatal injuries in the crash and were pronounced dead at the scene.

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The driver of the box truck suffered minor injuries, police said. The semi driver was not injured.

Over the past couple of years, Connecticut has seen a major increase in wrong-way fatal crashes. Last year, Gov. Ned Lamont signed legislation into law directing the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) to install wrong-way driving alert systems on at least 120 additional highway exit ramps statewide that the agency has identified as high-risk.

The technology uses cameras to detect a driver entering a highway from the wrong direction and rapidly flashes bright red LED lights to notify them that they are driving the wrong way. Future installations will add the ability to notify Connecticut State Police in real time.

Additionally, the legislation directs UConn to begin testing the use of directional rumble strips that alert drivers through vibration and sound when driving the wrong way, and directs CTDOT to pilot the use of variable electronic message signs along the highway to alert motorists of a potential wrong-way driver.

Wrong-way driving crashes in Connecticut tripled in 2022. This includes 13 wrong-way crashes that resulted in 23 deaths, compared to four wrong-way crashes in 2021 and two in 2020, state officials said in a news release issued in 2023. Studies have shown that wrong-way driving crashes are 100 times more likely to be fatal than other types of crashes. For more information on the state’s efforts to curb wrong way driving, visit ct.gov/dot.

The crash remains under investigation. Anyone who may have witnessed the crash should contact Trooper Michael Dean at 860-534-1098 or through email at michael.dean@ct.gov.

Patch editor Brian McCready contributed to this story.