Two people were killed in two separate fatal crashes involving tractor-trailers on the same short stretch of Interstate 64 in Albemarle County, Virginia, late Monday night and early Tuesday morning — the wrecks happened about a mile apart and less than an hour and a half apart, shut down part of the interstate overnight, and have left two truck drivers facing criminal charges. Both investigations are still open, and the charges against both drivers are allegations that have not been tested in court.
Source: Cville Right Now, reporting Virginia State Police and Albemarle County Police
The first crash happened at about 11:25 p.m. on Monday, October 26, on westbound I-64 at mile marker 108, near Charlottesville, according to Virginia State Police reporting carried by Cville Right Now. A Ford passenger vehicle struck a deer and became disabled in the right travel lane, and a Honda passenger vehicle stopped behind it. A westbound tractor-trailer then struck the Honda.
Source: Cville Right Now / Virginia State Police
The impact sent the Honda and the tractor-trailer off the roadway, onto the right shoulder and into a ditch, police said. The driver of the Honda, Alyssa Williams, 19, of Chester, was ejected from her vehicle and died from her injuries. The tractor-trailer driver was injured and was taken to hospital. The driver of the disabled Ford was not injured.
Source: Cville Right Now / Virginia State Police
A Canadian truck driver charged in the first crash
The tractor-trailer in the first crash was driven by Sikander Singh, 34, a Canadian, according to Virginia State Police. He has been charged with reckless driving. That is an allegation, not a conviction, and the state police investigation into the crash is continuing. Reports did not detail the extent of his injuries beyond saying he was transported to hospital.
Source: Cville Right Now / Virginia State Police
Williams was a sophomore nursing major at James Madison University in Harrisonburg. The university announced her death to the campus community on Tuesday — first in an email from Vice President for Student Affairs Tim Miller at about 3:15 p.m. and then in a condolence message from President Jim Schmidt. Miller's email said Williams was involved in Young Life, the University Program Board and Mosaic Connections, and the university pointed students to its Counseling Center and other support services for the weeks ahead.
Source: The Breeze, James Madison University
The second crash, one mile down the interstate
Less than an hour and a half later, at about 12:51 a.m. on Tuesday, Albemarle County Police, Virginia State Police and Albemarle County Fire Rescue were dispatched to mile marker 109 — one mile from the first scene — after reports that a tractor-trailer had struck a vehicle and pushed it into a gooseneck trailer travelling in front of it, according to the Albemarle County Police Department. The driver of the struck vehicle, Sally Tripp, 58, of Fishersville, was taken to UVA Health, where she died from her injuries.
Source: Cville Right Now / Albemarle County Police Department
The second tractor-trailer was driven by Nachalie Amaro Burgos, 30, of New Jersey, police said. She has been charged with felony involuntary manslaughter, failure to obey a highway sign, and driving too fast for conditions, and she is being held at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail without bond, according to the county police. The charges are allegations; Burgos has not been convicted of anything in this case.
Source: Cville Right Now / Albemarle County Police Department
Traffic backed up on westbound I-64 for about a mile on Tuesday morning because of the second crash, Cville Right Now reported, and 29News in Charlottesville reported that the back-to-back fatal crashes shut down part of I-64 in Albemarle County overnight while investigators from two different agencies worked the two scenes.
Source: Cville Right Now; 29News Charlottesville
Sikander Singh is charged with reckless driving in the first crash and Nachalie Amaro Burgos is charged with felony involuntary manslaughter and two driving offences in the second. Both charges come from police statements reported by local outlets. Neither driver has been convicted, and both investigations are described by police as ongoing.
Why this stretch of road matters to truckers
Interstate 64 is one of Virginia's main east-west freight corridors, crossing the state through Charlottesville and Albemarle County and carrying heavy overnight truck traffic between the Shenandoah Valley, Richmond and the coast. For Punjabi and other South Asian truckers — including Canadians like Singh who run U.S. lanes for a living — the two crashes are a grim, concrete reminder of the most dangerous situation in night driving: a stopped or disabled vehicle sitting in a live travel lane in the dark, in this case a car disabled after a deer strike, with another car stopped directly behind it. Police have not announced any finding about speed, fatigue or distraction in the first crash beyond the reckless-driving charge itself.
What happens next
Virginia State Police are investigating the first crash and the Albemarle County Police Department's Traffic Unit is investigating the second, and both inquiries were described as ongoing on Tuesday. Burgos is in jail without bond, which means a court appearance in Albemarle County is the next step in her case; no court date had been published in the reports available on Tuesday evening. For Singh, the reckless-driving charge will proceed through the Virginia courts while the state police investigation continues. Awaaz Punjab will update this story if police release further findings, including any official account of how either crash happened.