Woman Charged With Manslaughter In Fatal Naugatuck Crash: Police

NAUGATUCK, CT — A 41-year-old Waterbury woman was arrested on warrant Thursday charging her with manslaughter in connection with a fatal crash in Naugatuck last October, according to authorities.

Joie S. Cascella surrendered to police and was charged with the following:

• Second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle
• Second-degree assault with a motor vehicle
• Illegal operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol/drugs
• Reckless driving
• Failure to drive in proper lane
• Traveling unreasonably fast

The Oct. 11 crash on North Church Street near Mill Street in Naugatuck killed 69-year-old Naugatuck resident Carol Gironda, and seriously injured a passenger in Gironda's vehicle.

Police concluded "that Cascella crossed the center line and collided head-on" with Gironda's vehicle. Gironda was pronounced dead at the scene.

"The investigation included post-collision mechanical inspections, a technical reconstruction, quantitative analysis of operator blood samples at the State Forensics’ Laboratory, as well as background investigations," Naugatuck police said in a statement, adding that the Naugatuck Valley Collision Investigation Team consists of officers from the towns of Cheshire, Middlebury, Naugatuck, Plymouth, Watertown and Wolcott. Naugatuck Police Sergeant Matthew Savoy was the lead investigator.

Cascella was held in lieu of bail of $500,000, and she was scheduled to be arraigned in Waterbury Superior Court on Thursday.