Fatal Head-On Collision, Motor-Vehicle vs.Tree

At approximately 6:30 p.m. Sunday evening, August 7th, the East Haddam-Colchester Turnpike near Launching Area Road in East Haddam became the scene of a fatal motor vehicle accident when a car was driven head-on into a tree.

According to two East Haddam residents who were out riding bicycles on Falls-Bashan Road shortly before the accident, they had witnessed a small blue car that they thought looked like a Toyota pass by them at a high rate of speed, tailgating a motorcycle. Shortly thereafter, while traveling along East Haddam-Colchester Turnpike, the bikers came upon the accident scene and recognized the involved vehicle as the same car that had passed by them earlier.

Several state police troopers, local police, the East Haddam Volunteer Fire Department and East Haddam Ambulance crews responded. The road was closed down in the area of the causeway, from the East Haddam Town Beach up to Launching Area Road and remained closed for several hours. LifeStar Helicopter was originally called to respond, but later cancelled.

The vehicle, a blue 1993 Toyota Camry, sustained heavy damage from the impact with the tree. The driver, 19-year-old Kyle Paluha of 94 Town Farm Road, East Haddam, had to be extricated from the wreckage and was pronounced dead at the scene as a result of extensive injuries suffered in the accident.

According to Sgt.Thompson of the Connecticut State Police, Troop K in Colchester, Paluha had been traveling northbound on East Haddam-Colchester Turnpike at a high rate of speed and for unknown reasons, lost control of his vehicle and struck a tree on the left side of the roadway.

The accident remains under investigation.