NEW YORK — Five Connecticut minors were killed in a gruesome late-night crash on a New York avenue when their car crashed into a tree, authorities said Sunday.
The vehicle was carrying six children, the eldest a 17-year-old teenager, who were traveling Hutchinson River Parkway in Westchester County around 12:20 a.m. when the incident occurred.
A county statement said the car “wandered” off the driveway before hitting a tree and igniting fire north of the driveway exit. Mamaroneck Road. No other cars appeared to be involved.
The circumstances surrounding the accident were still under investigation, but authorities determined that five of the occupants died.
Authorities said the victims are between the ages of 8 and 17; four boys and a girl. The driver was a 16-year-old boy.
A sixth passenger, just 9 years old, survived. This minor was in the back of the Nissan Rogue and managed to escape out the back of the car, according to investigators. Emergency services took him to Westchester Medical Center, where he was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Matt Conway, superintendent of schools in Derby, Connecticut, said he learned the children were part of a family that recently moved to the New Haven County community from New York, but had not enrolled in the district. Conway said he reached out to the father Sunday and offered to provide him with information about supports available in the community for him and his family. He planned to speak to the father again on Monday.
“It is the unimaginable. Having to make arrangements now for five of your children to be buried is a very difficult thing for anyone,” Conway said.
