Suffield Woman Charged In Connection With Fatal Crash

NORWICH, CT — A Suffield woman has been arrested by state police in connection with a fatal accident on a Norwich highway in late June which killed a passenger in the pickup truck she was driving.

Victoria Berube, 23, was charged with second-degree vehicular manslaughter, operating under the influence of drugs or alcohol, second-degree assault with a motor vehicle, first-degree reckless endangerment, speeding, failure to drive in proper lane and failure to maintain a reasonable distance. Bond was set at $250,000.

On June 26 around 10:50 p.m., a Ford Escape XLT operated by Christopher M. Fink, 32, of Moosup, was traveling northbound on Interstate 395 in the right-hand lane at the Old Canterbury Turnpike overpass, and Berube was driving behind it in a Ford F150 pickup truck. Berube changed lanes and collided with the Escape’s left rear quarter, causing her truck to lose control, cross over the northbound lanes and crash into the median guard rail, according to a state police report.

The truck collided with the cement support for the bridge and rotated clockwise, crashing through the metal guard rail on the southbound side of the highway and coming to rest in the southbound lane near Exit 18, the report says.

Benjamin St. Pierre, 25, of Enfield, the right front passenger in Berube's truck, was pronounced dead at the scene. Berube and a rear passenger, Eric Lemieux, 26, of Enfield, were transported to Backus Hospital for serious injuries, the report says.

According to judicial records, Berube was charged with driving under the influence by Suffield police in Jan. 2014. She pleaded guilty in August of that year and received a six-month suspended jail sentence and 18 months' probation.

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