Four Yale University students died Friday and Saturday from injuries sustained when their sport utility vehicle collided into a jackknifed tractor-trailer on Interstate 95 in Fairfield, Conn.
The crash, which has left two other Yale students in critical condition and one in fair condition, occurred on an icy stretch of I-95 around 5 a.m. Friday. The two remaining passengers in the 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe were released Saturday from local hospitals. All but two played on Yale's football or baseball teams.
On I-95 Friday morning, a northbound tractor-trailer rig lost control and partially crossed the concrete barrier separating two sides of the highway, according to Sgt. J. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police. The Yale students' Tahoe smashed into the rig's rear.
Members of Yale's chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, the students were returning to campus from a pledge week event in New York City. Junior Sean Fenton, 20, of Newport Beach, Calif., sophomore Kyle Burnat, of Atlanta, and sophomore Andrew Dwyer, of Hobe Sound, Fla., died Friday from severe head injuries. Sophomore Nicholas Grass, of Holyoke, Mass., died Saturday afternoon.
Freshman Brett Smith, of Papillion, Neb.; and Eric Wenzel, of Garden City, N.Y., suffered critical injuries and remain hospitalized. Sophomore and Alexander, Ark. native Zachery Bradley. is in stable condition.
Christopher Gary, a freshman from Nazareth, Pa., and Cameron Fine, a freshman from Phoenix, were discharged Saturday.
State and federal officials as well as national DKE representatives are currently investigating the accident. As of yesterday evening, no party involved had been blamed.
David K. Easlick Jr., executive director of DKE, said Saturday that three cars of students had gone to a party in New York at an alumnus' house. Easlick said the students had a designated driver and that he didn't believe alcohol played a factor in the crash.
DKE, officially independent from Yale, is popular among athletes there. Former members include President George W. Bush and his father, both of whom played Bulldog baseball.
Yesterday, about 500 people congregated at Yale's Battell Chapel for the first of the memorial services, held in honor of Fenton, the SUV's driver. A 20-year-old junior and computer science major from Newport Beach, Calif., Fenton was remembered as an athlete and computer whiz with a gregarious personality.
"It was his home away from home, and his friends were his life," Fenton's father, Robert, said.
Services are scheduled later in the week for Burnat, Dwyer and Grass.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
