Woman Who Killed 2 Denied Driving Privilege By Judge

NEW LONDON, CT —Charged with driving drunk when she struck and killed Joanna Wakeman, 78 and her husband Seth Wakeman, 88, in Mystic last winter, retired educator Carol Belli asked a judge to let her drive, albeit on a limited basis. She was refused.

The 73-year-old from Groton requested that she be allowed to drive using a breath alcohol ignition interlock device, essentially a breathalyzer for a person's car where the driver blows into a mouthpiece before the car can start. The Day reportedthat New London Superior Court Judge Karyl Carrasquilla denied her request citing the deaths of two people where there was alcohol involved.

Meanwhile, the Wakeman's estate is suing the Stonington Police Department.

The complaint filed in New London Superior Court alleges that the police department has refused to provide reports and access to potentially key evidence in the investigation of the crash, and deaths of the couple, necessary to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit.

Belli was charged with being intoxicated but has not been charged in the deaths of the elderly couple. As was reported by The Day, which obtained a copy of the police report after an open records request, Belli failed one field sobriety test and was arrested, though was not handcuffed.

According to the complaint called a Bill of Discovery filed May 31 by attorney Robert Reardon on behalf of the Wakeman's estate, “No report has been provided by the Stonington Police Department in direct violation” of state law.

The failure of the police turn over investigative files, the complaint reads, “impairs their ability to investigate this civil wrongful death cases involving an intoxicated driver, including locating and interviewing witnesses, reconstructing the circumstances of this accident and determining the conduct of Carol Belli before and at the time the accident occurred.”

The court documents describe that the Stonington Police Department investigated, took measurements and photographs of “critical evidence” that showed where Belli’s car was and where the bodies of Wakemans lay. The photos and other investigatory evidence would have also noted other “important conditions.”

The Superior Court complaint alleges that the evidence has “been only available to the investigating police officers present at the scene that night.”