Police: Truck Driver Involved in Firey Hutch-Merritt Crash Wasn't Licensed

Written by Barbara Heins

The driver of the butter-laden tractor-trailer that slammed into a bridge abutment and caught fire tying up traffic on the Merritt and Hutchinson River parkways for hours this week is facing several charges.

Westchester County Police spokesman Kieran O’Leary said Friday that the driver, Ishad Knight, 29, of Miami, FL, was charged with driving without a license, failure to obey a traffic control device (driving past the signs that say No Trucks or Passenger Cars Only), Restricted Vehicle (no trucks allowed on the Hutch) and overheight vehicle (vehicles of that height are not allowed on the parkway).

The truck, carrying butter and margarine, struck the northbound King Street overpass where the Hutch merges into the Merritt Parkway on the Rye Brook/Greenwich border and caught fire about 11:20 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28. According to one Greenwich official, the driver said he was enroute to Brookline, MA, and accessed Google maps with his personal cell phone and ended up using directions designed for passenger vehicles.

The resulting fire smoldered for a few hours, prompting police officials in Westchester to shut down the Hutch for nearly eight hours and reroute drivers around the scene. The shutdown and rerouting caused miles of backups on the Hutch and local roads in Greenwich, Port Chester and Rye Brook through the evening rush hour.

Contributed photo. The Oct. 28 tractor-trailer fire on the Merritt Parkway near the King Street overpass.

Have a news tip? Email barbara.heins@patch.com. You can also post your own news, events and announcements on Patch by following these directions. Curious about how our new commenting platform, Disqus, works? Learn more about it here and start interacting with your neighbors on Patch.