Teen Involved in Merritt Crash Has Died

STAMFORD -- An 18-year-old New Hampshire man died less than 24 hours after losing control of his car on the Merritt Parkway and slamming into a tree Thursday morning.

Stamford Hospital spokesman Scott Orstad said that Branden Myers, of Chester, N.H., died of the wounds suffered in the accident at about 6 a.m. Friday.

Myers was pinned inside the mangled wreckage of a 2005 Chevrolet Classic for more than an hour as firefighters from the Greenwich, Turn of River and Stamford Fire & Rescue departments worked to get him out.

A Stamford Hospital surgeon was brought to the accident scene at the Greenwich-Stamford border to assist. Myers suffered multiple fractures, State Police said. He remained in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit Thursday evening.

Myers was driving north in the left lane just after the Guinea Road overpass when he lost control of the vehicle and careened across the right lane into the grass shoulder and struck a tree 30 or 40 feet off the road, state police said in a short explanation issued .

The 9:46 a.m. accident prompted the closure of the parkway's northbound side for about four hours while police investigated. Drivers on the parkway were diverted onto North Street in Greenwich; cars near the crash were forced to turn around and drive the wrong way on the parkway.

Greenwich resident Christine Edwards said she was stopped on the parkway for more than an hour before police began turning drivers around.

"It was really unbelievable," Edwards said. "I had never driven backwards on the Merritt Parkway before."

Turn of River Assistant Chief Matt Maounis said the accident was one of the worst single-car crashes he has seen in his 25 years with the department.

The Chevrolet that Myers was driving was almost completely wrapped around the tree. The damage was so bad it took 50 minutes for firefighters to get Myers out of the car, Maounis said.

Teams of firefighters used hydraulic rescue tools to cut the car's roof off, along with one door and part of the car's floorboards before Myers could be pulled out safely, Maounis said.

"The medics did a fantastic job keeping the man alive at the scene," he said. Medics had Myers on oxygen and were able to keep his airway clear while firefighters worked to extricate him from the vehicle.