Fatal Bridge Accident: 'I've Never Seen Anything Like That'

Tony Troiano doesn't cross the Tappan Zee Bridge often these days, since relocating from Westchester to New Jersey.

But a work event in Connecticut had Troiano driving across the Hudson span Tuesday evening—and in returning to the crossing once again, he just barely missed a tragic and ghastly five-car accident that left one dead, four injured and a passel of vehicles utterly demolished.

"I was literally the first driver behind the police car [responding to the accident]," Troiano said. "I got there five minutes after the fact."

Troiano did not witness the head-on collision itself, but he had a front-row seat to the chilling aftermath, he told Patch.

"It was a really horrible situation," he said. "The car that was turned over looked like it was a kid's toy, a hunk of metal."

"I've seen crashes, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like that," Troiano added. "You'd never have know that was a car."

Troiano also witnessed rescue workers operate the jaws of life, pulling survivors from the wreckage and carting them away in ambulances.

In the traffic odyssey that ensued, Troiano was at a standstill from about 8:50 p.m. to 2 a.m. He was able to exit his car to survey the scene, and take photographs of the ruins.

"There were hundreds of cars [at a standstill]," Troiano said. Several other motorists also left their vehicles to commiserate with one another and first responders.

"Everyone was upset about what they were seeing," Troiano said. At first, there were rumors of multiple deaths, and a tractor-trailer being involved, Troiano recalled.

What witnesses couldn't anticipate was that one of the cars involved—a white SUV driven Michael Schechel, 69, from Thiells—had been driving the wrong direction on the busy highway.

"The car was facing the wrong way, but you just assumed it was sideswiped," Troiano said. "Nobody for a second thought the man was going the wrong way."

"The [state] troopers were good—they were giving folks updates," Troiano added, explaining on the rapport between rescue authorities and motorists. "Firefighters and construction workers were helping, too."

Eventually, authorities were able to clear away a portion of the wreckage in a single lane in the early morning, and allow motorists by single-file.

The accident claimed the life of Hannah Ayeh-Brachie, age 56, from Hillcrest.