Woman Sentenced In Fatal Pedestrian Crash In West Haven

WEST HAVEN, CT — A Hamden woman was recently sentenced to more than five years in prison in connection with a crash that killed a pedestrian in West Haven in 2018, according to officials.

Nicole Labonte, 37, was sentenced Jan. 25 to 66 months in prison for the vehicular manslaughter and death of 35-year-old Elizabeth DiMaggio, of Norwich, according to Ansonia/Milford State’s Attorney Margaret E. Kelley.

Labonte was arrested in March 2019 after an investigation by West Haven police determined that Labonte struck DiMaggio with her vehicle as she was trying to cross Elm Street in West Haven on Nov. 9, 2018, according to a news release.

Authorities said Labonte later confessed to driving under the influence at that time, and cellphone records detailed that she was also “actively engaged in a phone call,” the news release states.

“After striking the victim with her car, Labonte did not stop, despite later telling officers that she knew that she had struck someone,” officials wrote in the news release. “The victim was trapped underneath Labonte’s motor vehicle as Labonte continued driving, dragging the victim approximately one-half mile before ultimately stopping. The victim was extricated from beneath Labonte’s motor vehicle and declared dead shortly thereafter.

“The Chief Medical Examiner’s autopsy report concluded that she had died not from the initial impact of the car, but rather from the traumatic asphyxiation caused by her extended dragging beneath it.”

Labonte pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle and one count of evading responsibility involving death.

At the sentencing hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Lawrence Scharpf, who prosecuted the case, read a statement from the mother of the victim as she sat beside him at the counsel table. She expressed her “satisfaction and gratitude” to the state for prosecuting the case to its conclusion, according to the news release.

Labonte was sentenced to an effective sentence of 12 years suspended after 66 months served, followed by five years of probation.

“I would like to commend Assistant State’s Attorney Scharpf for his dedication to successfully prosecuting this very complex case,” Kelley said in a statement. “After a series of delays, in part due to the pandemic, Assistant State’s Attorney Scharpf took on this prosecution, working through obstacles up through sentencing, to producing impactful arguments before the Court in an effort to achieve justice and some measure of peace for the loved ones of Ms. DiMaggio.”