Four victims of fiery Avon crash identified

WFSB-TV Eyewitness News ^ | August 2, 2005 | AP

[LurkedLongEnough]

AVON (AP) -- The names of all four people killed in Friday's fatal accident in Avon have now been made public.

The dump truck driver has been tentatively identified as 41-year-old Abdul Raheem Naafi, also known as Terrance Stokes, who had a Stamford address.

The chief medical examiner's office says 60-year-old Maureen Edlund of Canton and 54-year-old Barbara Bongiovanni of Torrington were killed in the wreck at the bottom of Avon mountain when the dump truck driver lost control and smashed into other vehicles.

Television and newspaper reports identified a third person who died, 42-year-old Paul "Chip" Stotler, of New Hartford, a father of five daughters.

[geopyg]

How can a guy who has a criminal record and be facing drug charges get a job as a trucker? Heck - how can he get any job when he is FACING drug charges? (Not to mention that he's out on the streets. One would think bail would be fairly high for someone with multiple offenses.)

[Man50D]

Thanks for the update. I suspect ther's alot more to this story yet to be told. Here's the latest on the accident UPDATE August 3, 2005

[SlowBoat407]

I have a hard time believing if someone close to you were killed in that or any accident you wouldn't be so light hearted about it. I'm sure if you visited the sight where the accident occurred your perspective would change quickly. This situation derserves more sensitivity than the moderator normally allows. That's not too much to ask.

I have had a number of people close to me killed in accidents. As a journalist, I have been to my share of accidents soon after they occurred and watched the aftermath. I have even had an article that I wrote used as a model for someone's suicide by automobile, so do not presume to know anyone else's heart or mind or in these matters, and most particularly, mine. It is deeply offensive to me that you presume some kind of emotional authority here, and now you are telling the mods how to do their job. Have you considered running for a political post -- as a Democrat?

[Man50D]

I have had a number of people close to me killed in accidents. As a journalist, I have been to my share of accidents soon after they occurred and watched the aftermath. I have even had an article that I wrote used as a model for someone's suicide by automobile, so do not presume to know anyone else's heart or mind or in these matters, and most particularly, mine. It is deeply offensive to me that you presume some kind of emotional authority here, and now you are telling the mods how to do their job. Have you considered running for a political post -- as a Democrat?

Then you should know better than anyone how much those involved in this tragedy are suffering and making light of the situation can only make it worse for them. You maybe offended but this isn't about you. It's about the victims and their families. The offense you feel is only exceeded by the offense the families of the victims would feel if they saw some of the comments posted in this thread. I'm not telling anyone how to do their job. As I said before it's not too much to ask for people to show a little more sensitivity given the tragedy. I sincerely hope if you or someone you care about is involved in a similar tragedy people will treat you with a more compassion and respect than has been shown by several people in this thread. It's sad you have to reduce this to snide remarks.

[SlowBoat407]

I give you the last word on this.

[wideawake]

Thank you for the info.

[George from New England]

Is anyone annoyed by the restrictive left-turn signals that are infesting more and more of the intersections in state of CT?

It is my belief that more people died and were involved in this accident BECAUSE they were forced to wait for almost two minutes at both left-turn lanes in the Route 44 lanes. The rest of the 44 traffic had green lights but the left-turn lanes can move with the normal flow even if traffic is clear for them. If these lanes were allowed to flow unrestricted by the new traffic signals there might not have been a story to report at all.

What is the feeling of Nutmeg's on this infringement on our freedom to travel the state highways?

Please contact me if there is interest in organizing to do something about this. mailto:dombrowski@cox.net

[nutmeg]

Gosh, I'm sorry to hear that. My sympathies and my prayers to the families and to you.

Thank you. The Stotler family will need many prayers...

[nutmeg]

Contributions can be sent to the Stotler Children’s Trust Fund, c/o Ironwood Capital, 200 Fisher Drive, Avon, Conn., 06001.

Thanks for the heads up on this, StarFan. I may run a separate thread with that article which is linked in #51.

[nutmeg]

Thank you for that update in #62. This story gets more and more outrageous, doesn't it? I think I will run a separate thread with the updated story, mostly for people on my CT ping list. Thanks again.