Charlotte, VT : 4 people injured after 6-vehicle crash in Charlotte on Friday, March 31, 2017

Four people were hospitalized following a midday crash Friday involving six vehicles on heavily traveled U.S. 7 in Charlotte, the Vermont State Police say.

The authorities said late Friday the driver they believe caused the chain-reaction wreck was suspected of drunken driving.

The crash happened at about 11:50 a.m. when a southbound 2011 Ford Ranger pickup truck driven by Edward A. Woodruff of Westport, New York, crossed into the northbound lanes near Horsford's Nursery, Vermont State Police Cpl. Mark Magnant said in a statement. Woodruff's truck sideswiped a northbound pickup truck, then slammed into a northbound SUV, caromed off the guardrail and rammed head-on into a northbound sedan, Magnant said.

A FedEx delivery truck headed north tried to avoid the collisions but struck the sedan. The last vehicle involved was a northbound SUV damaged by flying debris, Magnant said.

Investigators say Woodruff was taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, where he provided a preliminary breath sample with a blood-alcohol content of 0.077 percent. The legal limit for adult drivers in Vermont is 0.08 percent.

No charges had been leveled as of Friday night. The investigation was continuing.

The driver of the first northbound SUV, Michelle Brick, 55, of Colchester, had to be extricated from her vehicle before she was taken to the hospital for treatment of "serious, incapacitating, non-life-threatening" injuries, Magnant said. She and Woodruff, whose injuries the state trooper described the same way, both were admitted to UVM Medical Center.


The other two people sent to the hospital were the sedan's driver, Ashley Francis, 22, of Milton, and her passenger, Samantha Clift, 23, of Argyle, New York. Francis was treated for a chest injury, and Clift, for a head injury, according to police.

U.S. 7, the busy north-south artery on the west side of Vermont, was closed for three hours following the wreck.

Responding agencies were the Charlotte Fire Department, Charlotte Rescue, Shelburne Fire Department, Shelburne Rescue, South Burlington Fire Department, UVM Rescue, Vergennes Rescue, Shelburne Police Department and the Vermont State Police.

Source :
4 hospitalized after 6-vehicle crash in Charlotte