Eversons, Firefighters Discuss Miracle on I-95

Jillian Everson, whose family was uninjured in a rollover on Interstate 95 in Fairfield that totaled her 2006 Nissan Quest, returned to Sport Hill Service Station in Fairfield with her husband Monday afternoon to salvage what they could from their wrecked minivan.

The Quest had all of the Eversons' personal belongings, except for furniture, because Jillian was moving the family from Massachusetts to North Carolina to live with her husband, U.S. Air Force Sgt. David Everson, at Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville. On Thursday night, Jillian and her three children, ages 1 to 7, were in the Quest on I-95 in Fairfield when it was struck from behind by a tractor trailer, causing it to hit a car in front of it and then roll over several times before landing on its wheels in a snowbank.

Miraculously, no one was injured.

On Monday, Jillian and David Everson, who returned from a tour of duty in Iraq in December, brought along  Carsen, their white standard poodle who got out of the minivan as it was rolling over and who was found about a day later by a Good Samaritan and turned in at the Fairfield Police Department.

Firefighters who responded to the crash late Thursday stopped by the Easton Turnpike garage to meet David Everson - and to meet Jillian under better circumstances.

Assistant Fire Chief Douglas Chavenello, Fire Lt. Brad Sherman and Firefighter Bob Smith were among firefighters who greeted Jillian and David and discussed what happened about 11:30 p.m. Thursday on the southbound side of I-95, about two tenths of a mile south of exit 19.

State Police cited the driver of the tractor trailer, Kevin A. Mahon, 53, of Chelsea, Mass. for following too close, according to a report on the accident.

Chavenello said it was unusual that none of the airbags in the minivan deployed and that it was fortunate Monroe Everson, 2, and David Everson III, 1, were in car seats when the minivan was hit. David Everson, Jillian's husband, said Brielle Everson, 7, their oldest child, normally doesn't sit in the front seat when his wife makes the trip from Massachusetts to North Carolina and that the outcome of the crash may have been much different if she had been in a back seat.

Jillian said Carsen had to have gotten out of the minivan as it was rolling over on the interstate because the dog was nowhere to be found after the minivan came to rest on its wheels.

Carsen was full of life Monday afternoon, scampering around the back parking lot of Sport Hill Service Station and greeting firefighters who stopped by. Jillian said Carsen normally barks at strangers. "Now she's not barking at anybody," she said.

The accident report from state police said Everson's minivan was traveling in the center lane, between a 2011 Chevrolet Impala that was ahead and a tractor trailer that was behind, when Everson slowed down for traffic and was hit from behind by the tractor trailer.

The impact caused Everson's minivan to strike the Impala, driven by Yasitha Alahakoon, 32, of Princeton Junction, N.J. Everson then swerved to the right shoulder, struck a snowbank and rolled over, according to the state police report. Alahakoon and Mahon weren't injured, according to the report.

Everson said the minivan rolled over at least twice and came to rest on its wheels. It was about to tip onto its side when it righted itself, she said.

Everson said Sunday that Carsen must have gotten out of the minivan through a moon roof that was blown out when the tractor trailer hit it. She thanked Fairfield firefighters and police officers, state police and emergency responders in other jurisdictions for helping her family late Thursday and looking for Carsen.

Chavenello said he'd spoken with Mahon and that Mahon said he did everything he could to avoid hitting the minivan. The minivan was struck on its left side, indicating that Mahon swerved to try to avoid a collision.

Jillian and her three children were taken by AMR Ambulance Co. to St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport after the accident for precautionary reasons and were Ok. Jillian's parents drove from Massachusetts to Fairfield to pick up Carsen, who was the subject of a search by Fairfield firefighters and police, as well as emergency responders in other jurisdictions.