New Haven Independent

The bicyclist, Madeleine Lastrange, 50, was thrown on the hood of the truck and carried a short distance, and then fell off. According to police, the truck “literally drove over the bicycle and then just kept going down the road.” The collision occurred near Ivy and Chestnut streets; the bike and the truck were going in the same direction. Lastrange, who lives in Branford, was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital. On Friday, her condition was upgraded to “good,” a hospital spokesman said.

Police seized the driver’s truck after he fled the scene, the result of a lucky break and community policing at work, Morgan said.

Just that morning, Aug. 4, a nearby auto shop had activated its new surveillance cameras. The collision occurred midday.

Officer Michael Bonfiglio, a 23-year veteran of the force, knew the surveillance cameras had been installed and was able to view the film soon after the collision. He could identify the truck and where it came from because he is assigned to the Cedar St. area.

“The truck was in view on the surveillance tape,” Morgan said.

It was described as a rack body, large pick-up truck, the kind used at construction sites. It turned out the truck was driven by a man employed at a construction site at Cedar Street.

“He will not speak to us. We seized the vehicle. We have sought a search warrant in order to collect evidence on the truck and compare it to the evidence we found at the scene. She was alone on the bike. We hope to have the search warrant by next week,” Morgan said Friday.

Morgan said today that Officer Bonfiglio and Lt. Arthur Kohloff will appear before a Superior Court Judge in New Haven this afternoon to seek the search warrant. If they get it, then the department will ask the Connecticut State Police Major Crime unit to conduct a forensic analysis of evidence collected from the truck and the bike. The investigation is continuing.
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