17-car pileup snarls Saw Mill River Parkway

MOUNT KISCO -- A driver whose SUV flipped over onto an embankment and slid back down into traffic started a 17-car pileup that closed a stretch of the Saw Mill River Parkway through yesterday's morning rush, police said.

Westchester County police said there were several minor injuries and 14 cars had to be towed away from the scene on the parkway.

Temperatures were below freezing at the time, but police spokesman Kieran O'Leary said weather did not appear to have been a major factor.

"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."

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.

Southbound lanes were closed south of Route 133 until 9:20 a.m. -- AP