5 Killed As Truck Rams Car

AUBURN, Mass. - William Classen parked his van on a highway shoulder in order to calm an irritable child as he and his family returned from a vacation.

Seconds later, his two children, a niece and their grandparents were killed when a tractor-trailer driving in the breakdown lane slammed into the van and it burst into flames, police said.

"It was an awful sight - the kids were screaming, and they had their seat belts on, and we couldn't get to them because the passenger side door was jammed in," said Eileen McCullough, who pulled over with a friend to help the victims.

The truck driver, Austin Kilcollins of Florenceville, New Brunswick, was charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, driving with defective brakes and other violations. He and his two passengers were not hurt. Kilcollins was held on $50,000 bail pending arraignment today.

The Classen family had stopped along Interstate 290 late Saturday, with the rental car's hazard lights and headlights on, police said.

Investigators didn't know why the truck was driving in the breakdown lane when it rammed into the car, setting the vehicle on fire. There were no skid marks, troopers said.

McCullough told WBZ-TV that Kilcollins said he fell asleep at the wheel.

Killed were Alberto and Maria Perez of New York City and grandchildren Stacey Mirles, 6, of Lorain, Ohio; and Jonathan Classen, 6, and Tiffany Classen, 19 months, both of Milford, N.H., police said.

Jonathan and Tiffany's mother, Josie Classen, was in intensive care and William Classen was in stable condition. Norma Mirles, Stacey's mother and Mrs. Classen's sister, was in critical condition, hospital officials said.