Hamden police have arrested a 69-year-old Middletown woman for allegedly crashing into a 74-year-old Hamden pedestrian and killing him.
Police charged the woman with negligent homicide and failure to exercise reasonable care near a vulnerable user on a public way.
The charges stem from a May 26 crash. Robert Sheard, 74, was crossing Dixwell Avenue in a mobility scooter in front of Miller Library. He wasn’t in the crosswalk. The Middletown woman, driving westbound on Dixwell Avenue, struck him, ejecting him from his scooter. Sheard died later at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Hamden Officer Nicholas Lovett investigated the case, which led to the court approval of an arrest warrant for the woman. She was detained on a $50,000 bond, with a Nov. 26 scheduled court date, according to Hamden police spokesman Capt. Ronald Smith.
New Haven police have been more reluctant to invoke the vulnerable user law. (Read more about that here.)
In a separate incident, Capt. Smith reported that Hamden police are looking for two men in their mid-20s who offered a ride to a Quinnipiac University student who was walking near the intersection of Mount Carmel Avenue and New Road on Nov. 9. The woman accepted the ride — and told police she was subsequently sexually assaulted. Smith asked anyone with information to contact Detective Joseph Liguori at (203) 407‑3190.
Cops better start referring to that law as drivers mow down people left and right and disregard rules of the road and common sense driving