State Police Make Arrest In 2002 Mansfield Car-Pedestrian Incident

MANSFIELD, CT — State police have filed charges in connection with a two decades-old incident during which two pedestrians were struck by a car at the Carriage House apartment complex in Mansfield.

The driver was in his 20s at the time and is now 42 and living in Massachusetts. He was charged with reckless driving and evading responsibility.

At 11:26 p.m. on Nov. 26, 2002, state police were dispatched to Building 17 in the complex for a car versus pedestrian collision in which the driver fled the scene, according to a warrant. Neither of the two pedestrians was seriously hurt, but state police did send out a subsequent alert for a 1997 Chevrolet Lumina registered out of Fall River, MA, according to a warrant.

According to a warrant, a fight broke out at an off-campus party with University of Connecticut students at Building 4. Some of the young men involved retreated to the Lumina, which was parked at Building 17. As the driver tried to back out of a space, an open door hit one person and knocked him to the ground, according to a warrant. The young man then jumped onto the hood of the Lumina to "avoid getting hit a second time," according to a warrant.

Another pedestrian's foot was run over as the driver continued to back the car up with the first pedestrian still on the hood, according to a warrant.

The driver said a group of people surrounded the Lumina and he was trying to get away from additional trouble, according to a warrant.

Since then, the driver has been considered a fugitive, according to state police. He surrendered to state police at the Troop C barracks on April 19 after state police made contact with him, an arrest report indicates.