Fatal Cross Bronx Expressway crash snarls morning commute, cops say

A fatal crash on the Cross Bronx Expressway near Webster Avenue in the Bronx left three people dead on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016, police said. Photo Credit: Charles Eckert

Three people were killed and five were injured in a multivehicle collision on the Cross Bronx Expressway early Tuesday, police said.

A pair of tractor trailers, a Toyota and a pickup truck all crashed about 5:45 a.m., police said, when one of the tractor trailers, an eighteen-wheeler, stopped in the middle lane, police said. A Ford pickup truck then stopped behind it, but another eighteen-wheeler couldn’t stop and careened into it as well as a Toyota Corolla.

The pickup truck was wedged under the second tractor trailer, according to police.

The violent collision killed three of the five men who were inside the pickup truck, including the driver. Police identified two of the men as Henry Walker, 51, of Livingston, New Jersey, and Khalil J. Walker, 21, of Tobbyhanna, Pennsylvania. The identity of the third victim, a 58-year-old man, was being witheld pending family notification, police said.

The Toyota Corolla ended up lodged on top of the highway’s center divider, police said. The driver of the car and the other passengers from the pickup truck, were both taken to hospitals in serious condition.

Alcohol did not appear to be a factor in the crash, police said.

The driver and passenger from the second tractor trailer were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the first tractor trailer was uninjured.

The NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad is conducting the investigation, police said. No cause had been determined by Tuesday night.

Police said all drivers appeared to have clean driving records and licenses.

The accident initially closed the eastbound lanes just east of Webster Avenue, snagging the morning commute, police said. But by the afternoon, the highway had been reopened.