Texas truck driver was inattentive in leadup to fatal I-95 crash in Westbrook, warrant says

WESTBROOK — A Texas truck driver has been charged with negligent homicide in a fatal crash on Interstate 95 that happened last year after investigators determined he was not paying enough attention to the road, according to an arrest warrant. The investigation also concluded the tractor-trailer had no mechanical defects that may have contributed or caused the Sept. 5 collision that killed a 39-year-old Waterford man, the warrant shows. Dewayne Garrison, 52, of Spring, Texas, was extradited to Connecticut on Wednesday and charged with negligent homicide with a motor vehicle, weapon in a motor vehicle and failure to maintain lane, state police have said. The warrant shows Garrison was driving a tractor-trailer carrying about 45,000 pounds of wooden boards north on Interstate 95 in Westbrook when the truck crashed into a median, causing the load to spill onto the highway. “The force of this collision caused entire stacks of the oriented strand board to be propelled in an east-northeasterly direction, onto I-95 South and into the path of travel of all of the other involved vehicles,” police wrote. The initial crash and subsequent spill caused four other vehicles to lose control, including some that were struck by wooden boards propelled into oncoming traffic. The driver of a Jeep Compass was killed while three other drivers were hospitalized, police have said. Police previously identified the man killed as Nicholas John Kupec, 39, of Waterford. An autopsy determined he died of blunt impact injuries to his head and torso and listed the death as an accident, according to the warrant. The warrant shows investigators interviewed at least nine witnesses and individuals involved in the crash, including the owner and passenger of the tractor-trailer, a 2017 Freightliner Cascadia registered in Texas. The passenger told police he was working with Garrison and that the two had picked up wooden boards from Weyerhaeuser, a wood product company in West Virginia, and were transporting the product to a lumberyard located in Coventry, Rhode Island, the warrant states. The man said he was asleep in the sleeper berth of the cab at the time of the crash, but awoke when he was thrown against the driver side of the vehicle. He said Garrison then exited the cab to check to see if anyone was injured and to examine the damage, the warrant shows. Garrison declined to provide investigators with a statement, but mentioned to police who responded to the scene that he was adjusting the sun visor prior to striking the concrete barrier because the sun was in his eyes, the warrant shows. Investigators, however, performed a solar glare analysis that revealed the sun's position was not a contributing factor in the collision sequence. The warrant also notes Garrison passed a field sobriety test and showed no signs of intoxication. Police ultimately concluded that the crash took place because Garrison “demonstrated operator inattention” that led him to fail to drive “within the confines of the established and clearly delineated northbound travel lanes of 1-95 North,” the warrant states. Additionally, the warrant shows the firearm charge stemmed from the discovery of a bag containing a loaded 9mm Sig Sauer P365 following the crash. Police wrote that the firearm was not registered to Garrison and that he did not possess a valid pistol permit in Connecticut. 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. This story includes previous reporting from staff writer Liz Hardaway.