This story was updated at 1:33 p.m.
A Massachusetts man has been identified as the driver charged Sunday night with causing a series of collisions by driving the wrong way on Interstate 91 just north of Brattleboro.
Bernard McDonald, 65, of Westboro, Massachusetts, was scheduled to be arraigned early Monday afternoon on charges of gross negligent driving, excessive speed, leaving the scene of an accident and attempting to elude authorities, Vermont State Police said.
McDonald appears to be a building contractor in Westboro. It is unclear what he was doing in Vermont at the time of the incident. Police are continuing to investigate whether McDonald was impaired in some way at the time of the crashes.
Police report that the incident began when McDonald, driving a pickup truck, headed south in the northbound lanes of I-91 near Dummerston.
A state trooper responded to an emergency call at 5:41 p.m. and encountered the wrong-way driver on the highway; the pickup truck sideswiped the state police vehicle before colliding head-on with a van, injuring three people who were taken by ambulance to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. A fourth person was airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in West Lebanon and is reported in stable condition.
Two other vehicles went off the road during the wrong-way encounter.
Vermont State Police temporarily closed off I-91 between Brattleboro, Exit 3, and Putney, Exit 4, while the injured were helped and the accident details were investigated. The highway reopened hours later. now open.
Anyone with information that can assist the wrong-way driving investigation is asked to call the Vermont State Police barracks in Westminster at 802-722-4600.
