Truck driver arrested after CT troopers respond to multiple I-95 crashes due to leaks of human waste

A tractor-trailer driver was arrested Tuesday after an unsecured load of human waste spilled on Interstate 95 in Bridgeport late Monday night, causing multiple motor vehicle crashes, including one involving two Connecticut State Police cruisers.

Troopers from the Connecticut State Police Troop G were called to I-95 north between Exit 27 and Exit 30 around 10:33 p.m. Monday for a report of a large semi truck spilling an unknown substance onto the highway from its trailer, causing multiple motor vehicle accidents due to the slick roadway, according to state police.

A motorcycle driver lost control of his bike due to the sewage and fell into the roadway just north of Exit 28. The 36-year-old Bridgeport man was transported to Bridgeport Hospital with suspected minor injuries.

A Honda Civic, traveling north on I-95, south of Exit 28, drove over the sewage and lost control of the vehicle, colliding with the concrete median barrier. The Civic then crossed all lanes of traffic into the right shoulder and collided with the right shoulder concrete barrier. No injuries were reported. The driver, a 28-year-old from Bridgeport, was issued an infraction for operating a motor vehicle without an operator’s license.

A Toyota Avalon was south of Exit 29 when the fecal matter was scattered throughout all lanes. The driver, a 48-year-old man from Bridgeport, lost control of the Toyota and began to spin out. He veered through the right-center and right lane and into the right shoulder, where the car collided with the concrete barrier. The man, along with a 19-year-old male passenger, reported no injuries, state police said.

A Honda CR-V and a Honda Civic LX were just south of Exit 29 when the CR-V driver, a 22-year-old woman from Greenwich, and the Civic LX driver, a 28-year-old man from Milford, lost control of their vehicles due to the sewage. The CR-V veered through the right lane and into the right shoulder where it collided with a concrete barrier. The Civic LX veered into the right shoulder and collided with the back of the CR-V and the concrete barrier. No injuries were observed or reported, according to state police.

Two additional tractor-trailers were also traveling north of Exit 28 when the sewage was dropped in the roadway. The driver of the first tractor-trailer, a 36-year-old from Springfield, Massachusetts, lost control of his truck, jackknifing, and striking the driver’s side of a tractor-trailer driven by a 59-year-old man from the Bronx, New York before becoming involved in a separate collision with two state police cruisers. The two cruisers were unoccupied and parked in the median on I-95 North with emergency lights activated. As troopers were assisting the multiple vehicle crashes, the tractor-trailer driven by the Massachusetts man entered the median and hit one of the police cruisers. The impact pushed it forward, causing it to strike the second state police cruiser.

There were no reported injuries.

The tractor-trailer exited I-95 and onto the local streets. The driver, identified as Shaky Steevenson Joseph 34, of Waterbury, was contacted by his employer to pull over his tractor-trailer to the right shoulder on the Exit 17 off-ramp of Route 8 northbound and wait for the state police.

Joseph, who state police said was aware of the leak, was taken into custody and charged with operation of a motor vehicle with an unsecured load, reckless driving and 12 counts of first-degree reckless endangerment.

He was released on a $25,000 cash/surety bond and is scheduled to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on Aug. 8.

The interstate was closed for approximately three hours during the investigation. The Connecticut Department of Transportation, Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, Troop I and the Bridgeport Police Department and Fire Department responded to assist.