Accident at Intersection Comes Weeks After State Deems it Safe

Two people were hospitalized after an accident at the intersection of Route 67 and Governors Hill Road on Wednesday, four months after a fatal car crash at the same site and just weeks after .

At 5:07 p.m. Wednesday, Oxford emergency responders reported to the scene of a four-car accident - right in front of the Oxford Resident Trooper's Office - where two people suffered injuries requiring them to be hospitalized for what police described as moderate neck and back injuries.

Ann Donato, 67, of 26 Highland Road, Oxford, was taken by Oxford Ambulance to the Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven for neck and chest pain. Ian T. Pharo, 37, of 99 Hollow Swamp Road, Southbury, was taken by Oxford Ambulance to Danbury Hospital, also for chest and neck pain. Their respective conditions could not be confirmed on Thursday.

According to a police report, Donato was stopped in the southbound lane of Route 67, about to turn left onto Governors Hill Road in her 2004 Mercury Mountaineer sport utility vehicle, when her vehicle was struck from behind by a 1995 Chevy pickup truck. The truck was driven by 19-year-old Brandon L. McStravick, of 131 Quaker Farms Road, Oxford, the report states.

Donato's SUV collided with Pharo's 2005 Chevrolet Classic, which was about to turn from Governors Hill Road onto Route 67, according to the report. A 2007 Acura RL heading southbound on Route 67 and driven by Mark Desautels, 56, of 16 Greenwood Circle, Seymour, tried to avoid the collision, but Donato's SUV sideswiped him, the report states.  

Neither Desautels nor McStravick were injured, according to the report. 

McStravick, the teenager, was issued a citation for failure to drive at a safe distance.

All of the cars, expect for the one driven by Donato, sustained heavy damage and were towed from the scene. 

The heavily traveled Route 67 was closed in the area for about an hour while crews cleaned up the crash. Oxford firefighters responded and helped with cleanup.

The accident comes three weeks after the Board of Selectmen accepted a letter from the state Department of Transportation stating that the intersection is not dangerous enough to warrant a traffic signal. The DOT was responding to a request for a study from town officials after 23-year-old Matthew Mihalcik of Beacon Falls died in an accident at the site.

The DOT report states there were just six accidents at the intersection between 2006 and 2008. Click to read that story published on Oxford Patch on Feb. 1.