A 58-year-old Fishersville woman has died after a multi-vehicle crash on westbound Interstate 64 early Tuesday, and a New Jersey tractor-trailer driver is now facing a felony charge in connection with her death. Sally Tripp was rushed to UVA Health in serious condition after the crash near mile marker 109, but she later died from her injuries.
According to 29news.com, Albemarle County Police, Virginia State Police and Albemarle County Fire Rescue were dispatched to the 109 mile-marker at approximately 12:51 a.m. Tuesday for a crash involving a tractor-trailer, a vehicle and a gooseneck trailer. Police said the tractor-trailer struck the vehicle, causing it to collide with the gooseneck trailer traveling in front of it. Tripp, who was driving the vehicle, was transported to UVA Health before she died from her injuries, as reported by WHSV.
Trucker Charged, Held Without Bond
Nachalie Amaro Burgos, a 30-year-old tractor-trailer driver from New Jersey, was charged with felony involuntary manslaughter, failure to obey a highway sign and driving too fast for conditions. She is being held at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail without bond, the station's report states. The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Albemarle County Police Department's Traffic Unit, per the same account.
Under Virginia law, involuntary manslaughter is punishable as a Class 5 felony, according to the Virginia General Assembly. The state's traffic code also allows for a reckless driving charge when a driver exceeds a reasonable speed for the circumstances and conditions, regardless of the posted limit, the Virginia General Assembly notes in a separate statute governing driving too fast for highway and traffic conditions.
A Second Fatal Crash Hours Earlier
The crash that killed Tripp was not the only deadly wreck to strike that stretch of I-64 overnight. A separate three-vehicle crash occurred on westbound I-64 at approximately 11:25 p.m. Monday near the 108 mile-marker, just a mile from where Tripp would later be struck, according to a separate report from 29news.com. In that earlier crash, a Ford struck a deer and became disabled in the right travel lane before a Honda stopped behind it was struck from behind by a westbound tractor-trailer.
The Honda's driver was ejected and died from injuries sustained in that crash, while the tractor-trailer driver involved was injured and charged with reckless driving, the outlet reported. Virginia State Police are investigating that crash separately. Together, the two wrecks shut down part of westbound I-64 in Albemarle County overnight.
Crash data from incidents like these are typically compiled into Virginia's Traffic Records Electronic Data System, a statewide system described by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles as centralizing crash information from across the state. The agency's annual Traffic Crash Facts publication is produced jointly with the Virginia Department of State Police.
