Tragedy marred the annual Saturday-morning drinking fest known as the Yale-Harvard Game tailgate, as a U‑Haul driver ran into a crowd of people outside the Yale Bowl and killed a 30-year-old Massachusetts woman named Nancy Barry.
The incident occurred around 9:45 a.m. Saturday as revelers held parties in the parking lots outside the Bowl in anticipation of the Yale-Harvard football game.
It was one of two fatal car crashes Saturday. In the other incident, a driver crashed an SUV on the Boulevard near the I‑95 entrance around 12:25 a.m. One occupant was killed, the other critically injured, according to police spokesman David Hartman. State and local police had been sent to Long Wharf near the Mobil gas station shortly before that to break up drag racing; but there was no reason to tie that fact to the crash.
In the Yale Bowl incident, the U‑Haul driver injured three people.
The driver, a Yale junior from Berkeley College, was driving into Lot D, where a fraternity was holding a party. The U‑Haul contained beer kegs in the back.
However, the driver appeared to be sober. Numerous people familiar with the case said the student was given a “thorough” field sobriety test. And he passed.
The driver was described as having a look of terror on his face. He belonged to Yale’s Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.
Sunday afternoon, the police released a statement that described how the crash occurred:
“A rented U‑haul box truck operated by [the student] entered the lot from Central Avenue and made a left turn toward a grassy area where other vehicles and similar trucks were parked. This was only about 100 (or so) feet from the lot entrance.
“As the truck turned, it accelerated and struck three pedestrians before colliding with two parked box trucks. The parked trucks were enough to stop the vehicle from proceeding any further.”
“From what we could tell,” Nancy Barry, the killed woman from Salem, Massachusetts, did not attend “either university. She was just visiting friends,” Assistant Chief Pat Redding said. The crash occurred right by the entrance of the parking lot on Central Avenue. The lot had opened around 8 a.m.
In addition to the killed woman, a Yale School of Management student was seriously injured, and a New Haven woman suffered minor injuries. Police identified the SOM student Sunday as Sarah Short.
Short was in “serious but stable” condition, according to police spokesman Officer David Hartman. Her injuries, to bones and joints, are “recoverable.”
The third victim was a Harvard employee named Elizabeth Dernbach, according to police. She was treated for minor injuries and released.
The police department’s accident reconstruction team was investigating the scene along with Yale police. New New Haven Police Chief Dean Esserman and Yale Chief Ronnell Higgins were on the scene.
Yale announced it will now investigate its policies at tailgates.
No decision had been made as of Sunday morning about whether to charge the driver, according to Hartman.
At halftime during the game, as the stadium announcer spoke over the PA about the accident, thousands of fans fell quiet. The announcer said the university’s thoughts and prayers were with the families of the victim and called for a moment of silence. A stadium full of people stood and removed caps to stand quietly in recognition of the tragedy.