Marking The Avon Mountain Crash, 10 Years Later

July 25--AVON -- The Rev. Jon Widing, chaplain for the police and fire departments in town, was on a ride-along in a police cruiser when the call came in for a major traffic accident at the base of Avon Mountain.

It was exactly 10 years ago this Wednesday, on July 29, 2005. The call would change his life.

They rushed to the scene, at the intersection of routes 44 and 10, and Widing spent the rest of the day helping police, firefighters and others deal with the aftermath of a fiery wreck that left four dead and 19 injured.

Widing, 67 at the time, now says that the experience inspired him to become certified as a firefighter and emergency medical technician. He worked as both on a volunteer basis until retiring.

"I saw men and women fighting fires and doing rescue work [that day]," Widing said. "That inspired me to become an EMT and firefighter. Being a chaplain is great, but you do a lot with ideas, and I wanted to get on line as an emergency responder."

The Avon Mountain crash was national news and reverberated for years afterward as victims and their families struggled to recover, while criminal and civil cases dragged on in court. It was also a turning point for many, like Widing, who were touched by the crash. On Wednesday, some of them will gather at the base of the mountain to mark the 10th anniversary of the tragedy.

The observance is scheduled for 7:15 a.m. at the Boyle's Furniture store, formerly Nassau's Furniture, near the intersection where the accident occurred. Former Fire Chief Jamie DiPace said the early hour was chosen to coincide with the time of the crash. Organizers expect some victims and their families to attend. The public is also invited.

Truck Brakes Failed

DiPace, fire chief at the time of the crash, said that even 10 years later, he has a hard time describing what he saw.

"We had never had something like that of that magnitude. I am sometimes speechless about it," DiPace said.

A large commercial dump truck loaded with debris was heading west down the mountain on Route 44 when its brakes failed. At the base of the mountain, the truck careened into a group of cars waiting for the light to turn.

Four people were killed:

Barbara Bongiovanni, 54, of Torrington

Maureen Edlund, 60, of Canton

Abdulraheem Naafi, 41, driver of the truck

Paul "Chip" Stotler, 42, of New Hartford

Nineteen others were hurt, some seriously. They included Frank Juan, who according to news accounts was driving a commuter bus that was hit. Juan was partially paralyzed and died in 2008.

Bobbie Stotler said she will be at the observance Wednesday. After her son, Paul "Chip" Stotler, died, she moved from Old Saybrook to Torrington to be closer to her son's wife and help care for her five grandchildren. Her other son moved to the area, too, she said, to help out.

Stotler said she is reminded of that day whenever she travels to Old Saybrook to visit her daughter. The route takes her through the Route 44/Route 10 intersection.

"I would not miss the ceremony for the world," Stotler said. "I miss him every day of my life. It changed all of our lives forever, and we got through it by being a strong family that stays together."

Bongiovanni and Stotler were heading to work when the crash happened, people who knew them said. So, too, was Mark Robinson, who was on his way to Hartford when he was badly injured in the crash. He says he will be there Wednesday.

"I am glad something is being done," Robinson said. "It was an incredible event with an incredible outpouring from first responders and passersby. To not acknowledge them and what happened would be a missed opportunity."

Robinson was at the front of a line cars waiting to go through the intersection when the dump track came barreling down. He said the drivers in the cars around him died. He suffered nine broken bones and a punctured lung.

Robinson said he has no memory of the crash. But the severity of it, both at the scene and the damage it did to so many people's lives, prompted him to dedicate many hours since then to telling the story of what happened. In 2009, he self-published a book titled "Smoke, Fire and Angels: Tragedy on Avon Mountain and the Life-Changing Aftermath," an account of the accident and its effects on those who were in it. He based the book on interviews with survivors and first responders.

"I am grateful to have survived, and I always feel a need to remind everyone that people were killed," Robinson said. "And they were good people whose families went through a lot."

Robinson has also spent much of his time since the crash following the protracted legal cases that came later. In an interview, Robinson repeatedly mentioned the suffering of families who lost loved ones. Another sore point for Robinson is a loophole in state law that enabled the company that owned the dump truck to operate the truck without having insurance on it. That loophole was closed after the crash.

But there was little recourse for victims and families to get compensation. Robinson said he holds state lawmakers responsible for letting that loophole be there in the first place.

"Our lawmakers were representing the trucking industry, but who was representing the five little girls in New Hartford?" Robinson said, referring to the children of Paul "Chip" Stotler.

Avon Town Manager Brandon Robertson said Robinson had the idea for the ceremony several months ago and, after speaking with police and fire, they all decided something should be done. The Avon Volunteer Fire Department is putting on the ceremony with help from the police department and town officials.

"We have been especially concerned for the victims and their families," Robertson said. "We wanted to make sure they are comfortable and feel this is appropriate. I think what is planned will meet everyone's needs. It will be very low-key."

Lawsuits, Police Charges

After the accident, while victims, their families and first responders tried to move on, there were debates about the safety of Avon Mountain and how well the state monitored commercial vehicles like the one in the crash. For a few months, those vehicles were banned from going over Avon Mountain.

Eventually the state installed a runaway truck ramp on Route 44 and reconfigured the road as it goes up the Avon side of the mountain. DiPace said he thinks those changes made the hill safer.

Then there were court cases. Two of them were not resolved until nearly a year ago. Those cases were filed by victims and their families who sought to hold the state responsible, claiming that the design of the road was unsafe and contributed to the crash. But the state Supreme Court ruled last August that the state was not responsible and dismissed both cases.

The dump truck was owned by American Crushing and Recycling, a Bloomfield-based firm that is now defunct. Its assets were frozen and were used to provide some compensation to victims since the truck was uninsured.

David Wilcox, who owned American Crushing and Recycling, along with his wife and son, were arrested as a result of the investigation into the crash. Donna Wilcox and Shaun Wilcox were given suspended sentences, along with probation, according to accounts that appeared in The Courant when their cases were resolved in 2009. Donna Wilcox pleaded no contest to charges of insurance fraud and attempted larceny while Shaun Wilcox pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence.

But David Wilcox received a six-year prison sentence after a lengthy court battle that included a mistrial on several charges. In 2009, Wilcox pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree manslaughter along with five counts of first-degree assault. Wilcox also pleaded no contest to a single count of insurance fraud. He has finished his sentence.

___

(c)2015 The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Conn.)

Visit The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Conn.) at www.courant.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.