17 cars involved in chain-reaction wreck on Saw Mill Parkway

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. (WABC) -- At least 17 cars were involved in a wreck on the southbound side of Saw Mill River Parkway in Mount Kisco Wednesday morning.

Police said a driver whose SUV flipped over onto an embankment and then slid back down into traffic just south of Route 133 around 7 a.m. led to the chain-reaction crash.

6 people were taken to the hospital with neck and back complaints.

A stretch of the parkway was closed through the morning rush, but all lanes were reopened around 9:30 a.m.

A spokesman says 14 cars had to be towed away from the scene.

Temperatures were well below freezing at the time but police spokesman Kieran O'Leary said the weather did not appear to be a major factor in the pileup.

"The road had been salted and sanded an hour earlier, so it wasn't a sheet of ice or anything," he said. "A few drivers told us the right lane may have been slippery but most of the 17 said it was the curve and the darkness that kept them from stopping in time."

O'Leary did not know if the driver of the SUV was among those who mentioned icing.

He said that at about 6:40 a.m., the SUV's driver lost control and the vehicle flipped over and landed on an embankment.

"It slid down the embankment back onto the pavement and hit a car, and that started it," he said. "It's a curve there. They had no time to react."