Resident: Fatal Accident on South Windsor-East Windsor Border 'Was Bound to Happen'

A makeshift memorial with flowers, a battered tree and some scattered debris marked the scene of Saturday’s horrific motor vehicle accident in which two teenagers died and three others were hospitalized.

The two passengers who died were identified by police as Brooke T. Wormstedt, 15, of East Road, East Windsor; and, Matthew T. Masse, 18, of Hemlock Drive, Vernon.

The injured are identified as: Sara S. Ballard, 19, of Sandstone Drive, South Windsor.  Ballard has been identified as the driver of the vehicle; Christine E. Huppe, 17, of Wedgewood Lane, South Windsor; and, Megan E. Barnaby, 16, of Rice Road, East Windsor.

“I love you Matthew T. Masse,” a card on the flowers at the scene of the accident said. “You will forever be in my [heart].”

As tragic as the accident was, residents who live on Abbe Road-Miller Road (it’s on the South Windsor-East Windsor border) said that it was not surprising.

“It was just bound to happen, said Daryl Arel, who lives at 495 Abbe Road in South Windsor and is close friends with the brother of one of the passengers who died. “It’s tragic.

Broad Brook resident Janice Warren, who lives at 97 Miller Road, directly across the street from where the accident ended, agreed.

“It goes in waves,” Warren said. “This year, the pattern is kids are jumping the hill. We were afraid that someone was going to get hurt.”

Warren said that she, along with two neighbors who are a Vernon police lieutenant and a South Windsor volunteer firefighter, were first on the scene of the accident.

“It was immediately clear that the outcome was tragic,” said Warren, adding that the sound of the crash was something that she has unfortunately heard numerous times while residing on that road. “It’s a sickening, car-ending crunch.”

Warren described another accident several years ago when a car traveling at a high rate of speed “cartwheeled” and came to a stop when it crashed into a telephone pole in front of Warren’s home.

“This is a very dangerous road and it’s fun to go fast on,” Warren said.
South Windsor Chief of Police Matthew Reed said that the matter is still under investigation, but that speed was definitely a factor.

Reed said that it was unclear, however, if the weather - it had rained all day - played a role in the accident.

Metro Traffic Services and South Windsor Police are continuing their investigation into the crash.