New Haven Police Make Arrests On 2 Fatal 2021 Hit & Run Crashes

NEW HAVEN, CT — On Sept. 6, 2021 just before 10 p.m., police got calls about a person hit by a car on Chapel Street between Norton Street and Ellsworth Avenue.

After hitting pedestrian Michael Santiago with his car so forcibly that the 49-year-old man "vaulted" over the roof of the car, broke through the rear windshield and became lodged there, Charles Artis kept driving, police said.

In an update on two fatal 2021 hit-and-run crashes, New Haven police Capt. Rose Dell described in vivid and horrific detail what happened next:

With Santiago's body still lodged in the back of the car, Artis drove for nearly nine minutes, Dell said. Finally, Artis would pull over, drag Santiago's body out of the smashed rear windshield, then drag him onto Greenwood Street between Gilbert Avenue and George Street and leave him there.

When first responders found Santiago, he was dead.

Artis, who is being held on $200,000 bail, was charged with first-degree manslaughter, evading responsibility/death resulting and a number of related traffic violations in the fatal hit-and-run.

A second fatal 2021 hit-and-run case was also solved.

On Nov. 7, 2021, Stephen Rediker, 79, was riding his bike on College Street when he was struck by a Ford F-150 that left the scene of the crash. Dell said Wednesday that a witness supplied police with information that led to Timothy Toliver, 36, of New Haven.

In a "lengthy emotion-filled interview," Dell said, "he confessed." Dell said Toliver would only find out when his truck was pictured in the media that he was responsible. Toliver was charged with evading responsibility/death resulting and pleaded guilty. His next court date is Nov. 16.

In 2021, New Haven police investigated 8,506 crashes, 19 of which were fatal, police spokesperson Officer Scott Shumway said. So far in 2022, police investigated 6,602 crashes, 10 of which were fatal.

Watch the full news briefing here: