Texas truck driver charged in I-95 plywood spill in Westbrook that caused fatal wreck

WESTBROOK — A Texas man is charged with negligent homicide and other offenses in connection with a fatal crash in Westbrook last year, according to Connecticut State Police. Dewayne Garrison, 52, of Spring, Texas, was taken into custody by deputies from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office on May 20 on an extraditable warrant. He was flown into Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks Wednesday and, once at Troop F, was charged with negligent homicide with a motor vehicle, weapon in a motor vehicle and failure to maintain lane, state police said in a news release Friday. Garrison was arraigned in state Superior Court in Middletown Thursday and is being held on a $50,000 bond, according to judicial records. He is next scheduled to appear in court June 17. Garrison’s charges stem from a fatal crash that occurred on Interstate 95 north in Westbrook the morning of Sept. 5, 2025. An incident report from state police states Garrison was driving a tractor-trailer carrying plywood boards and, while driving, the vehicle lost its load, which spilled over into the southbound lanes. The incident caused a chain reaction and four vehicles lost control, according to the report. The vehicles struck each other, the metal guardrail in the right shoulder and the concrete barrier in the median. Nicholas John Kupec, 39, of Waterford, was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he later was pronounced dead, according to police. The three other operators were taken to Middlesex Health Shoreline Medical Center as a result of the incident, police said. Detectives determined Garrison failed to drive within his lane, resulting in a series of events that detached the load and propelled it into the path of the other involved vehicles, according to his arrest warrant affidavit. Police also said Garrison “demonstrated operator inattention, in that insufficient attention was given to the safe operation of the combination which directly resulted in the combination leaving the clearly delineated normal travel portion of I-95 North.”