Waterbury man dies from injuries in I-89 crash last week

September 11, 2020  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

A Waterbury man has died from injuries he sustained in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 89 in South Burlington on Friday, Sept. 4, according to state police. 

James Sheldon, age 59 of Waterbury, suffered serious injuries in the crash that happened at about 12:30 p.m. on I-89 southbound near mile marker 86 by the Whales’ Tails sculpture. 

In a news release Thursday, Vermont State Police Sgt. Joseph Paquette said Sheldon had died from his injuries at the University of Vermont Medical Center. 

Sheldon was the driver in the crash which is still under investigation, according to police. His passenger, 40-year-old Andrew Brace of Jericho, received minor injuries and was treated and released from the hospital, police said. 

According to the investigation so far, police said Sheldon was southbound on I-89 driving a 2014 Nissan Juke. Investigators don’t know why the car left the roadway and entered the median. “The vehicle traveled through the median for several hundred feet until it hit a large rock pile,

causing it [to] jump several feet then hit a large concrete culvert which may have caused the vehicle to roll or flip at some point before coming to final uncontrolled rest on its wheels,” Paquette outlined in his report. 

Several other motorists stopped to help, freeing Brace, police said. Both men were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash, and they both were taken by ambulance to UVM Medical Center. 

Paquette said the vehicle was totaled and that the weather at the time was sunny and the road was clear.

Anyone who might have seen this crash who may have information for investigators is asked to contact the Vermont State Police Williston barracks at 878-7111.