Windsor Man Arrested in Connection With Fatal Highway Crash

ENFIELD, CT — The driver of a Jeep Wrangler which careened off a bridge on Interstate 91 northbound in Enfield and plummeted to a roadway below, killing a female passenger, nearly a year ago was arrested Saturday and charged with vehicular manslaughter.

John Gallucci, 33, of Windsor, was charged on a warrant with second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle, operating under the influence of drugs/alcohol and reckless driving. He was held over the weekend in lieu of $50,000 cash/surety bond, and was scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Enfield Superior Court.

According to a police report, Gallucci was driving a 2000 Jeep Wrangler northbound in the left-hand lane of the highway around 1:59 p.m. on Dec. 19, 2016, when the vehicle veered to the right, crossed all three travel lanes, struck a barrier on the highway's right shoulder and vaulted airborne off a bridge, coming to rest 18 feet below the highway on Oliver Road.

Gallucci was transported to St. Francis Hospital in Hartford with moderate injuries, but his passenger, Marie Parks, 22, of Springfield, Mass., who had been ejected from the vehicle, was pronounced dead at Baystate Medical Center of "complications of blunt force injuries of the torso," according to the office of the Massachusetts Chief Medical Examiner.

An affidavit supporting Gallucci's arrest warrant provided considerable details about the crash and its aftermath.

• Troopers from the Connecticut State Police Collision Analysis & Reconstruction Squad determined the Jeep was traveling at 86 miles per hour at the onset of yaw marks found on the highway.
• While being interviewed by state police in his hospital room, Gallucci told troopers he had "hit black ice and lost control." Investigators determined no black ice was present at the scene, and weather did not play a contributing role in the crash.
• A half-dozen empty nip bottles were found in and around the Jeep, and medical records obtained from St. Francis Hospital indicated the presence of cannabinoids, cocaine and alcohol in Gallucci's system.

Photo courtesy of Connecticut State Police