Police charged a driver after fatal Cross Bronx Expressway crash.
Police said a 43-year-old tractor-trailer driver was arrested and charged after a three-vehicle crash and fire on the Cross Bronx Expressway in which a 49-year-old woman died; the official record dates the collision to Nov. 29, 2022, at 12:34 a.m.
Location reported in Open Data.
What We Know
Police said Shelly Vilsaint, 49, of Bayonne, was driving an SUV that first hit the rear of a tractor-trailer driven by a 43-year-old man; both stopped in the center lane. A 53-year-old driver then hit her SUV from behind, police said, sending it into the first truck, partly into its trailer and overturning. Police said all three vehicles became engulfed or partly engulfed in flames. Norwood News reported that police later arrested and charged the 43-year-old driver. The article first called Vilsaint's vehicle a Range Rover, then described it as a black 2019 Land Rover SUV. The official record dates the crash to Nov. 29, 2022, on the Cross Bronx Expressway and records one death and no injuries.
Police described two successive collisions.
Police said Vilsaint, driving an SUV, hit the rear of a tractor-trailer driven by a 43-year-old man; both stopped in the center travel lane. A 53-year-old man driving a second tractor-trailer then hit the rear of Vilsaint's SUV, police said. The impact sent her SUV into the first tractor-trailer, where it partly entered the trailer and overturned. Police said all three vehicles became engulfed or partly engulfed in flames.
The vehicle descriptions differ across the report.
Norwood News first called Vilsaint's vehicle a Range Rover and later reported police identified it as a black 2019 Land Rover SUV. The official record classifies it as a station wagon/SUV. The article identified the first and second tractor-trailers as 2013 and 2015 models, respectively.
Police identified the woman who died.
Police identified Shelly Vilsaint, 49, of Bayonne, New Jersey, as the woman who died. The official record lists a 49-year-old woman driver among one motorist killed and records no injuries. Police said EMS pronounced Vilsaint dead at the scene. Police also said the two tractor-trailer drivers, ages 43 and 53, were uninjured and remained at the scene.
Agency accounts differed on direction and location.
The official record places the crash on the Cross Bronx Expressway at 12:34 a.m. on Nov. 29, 2022, and lists the vehicles as westbound. Norwood News recounted several different direction and location descriptions: an initial state alert put a fire southbound just past Major Deegan Expressway, and an initial police account placed the crash southbound beneath University Avenue. A later police and NYC Department of Transportation notice located it westbound at University Avenue, while the FDNY described an eastbound crash at Exit 2A.
Police later arrested and charged one driver.
Norwood News reported that police arrested and charged the 43-year-old driver of the first tractor-trailer. The FDNY said 12 units and 60 fire personnel responded and brought the fire under control at 1:59 a.m. State officials said all lanes were blocked for several hours.