A left turn onto Danbury Road ended in a fatal three-vehicle collision Tuesday morning, November 3, in Southeast, New York. Helen T. Gambino, an 87-year-old woman from Brewster, died after her 2024 Subaru was struck by a BMW at the intersection of Danbury Road and Dingle Ridge Road in Putnam County.
New York State Police said troopers from the Brewster station received a report of the collision at approximately 7:20 a.m. Gambino had been stopped at a stop sign on Dingle Ridge Road before attempting to turn left onto Danbury Road.
As she entered the roadway, an eastbound 2015 BMW struck her Subaru. The BMW was being driven by 19-year-old Caua Dos Santos Rocha of Danbury, Connecticut.
The force of the collision caused Gambino’s Subaru to overturn. The vehicle eventually came to rest in the center median, leaving the roadway scene involving more than one damaged vehicle.
Moments later, the BMW struck another car. That vehicle was a 2009 Honda driven by 23-year-old Devin S. Reynoso, also from Danbury, Connecticut. Reynoso had been traveling eastbound in the right lane of Danbury Road when the second impact occurred.
Gambino suffered fatal injuries and was taken to Danbury Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Rocha also required medical attention and was transported to the same hospital. His injuries were classified as non-life-threatening. Reynoso was not injured in the crash.
The collision involved three drivers, three vehicles and two separate impacts within the same incident. What began as a left turn at an intersection quickly became a deadly chain of events, leaving one woman dead and another driver injured.
As of Wednesday morning, November 4, New York State Police said the investigation was still ongoing. Authorities had not released further information about the circumstances surrounding the collision.
Gambino, 87, was from Brewster, New York. Her death marked the tragic end of a Tuesday morning that began like any other, while the two surviving drivers were left to recover from an accident that claimed another person’s life.