Victim Recovering––

Sherman Carpenter Arrested In Hit-And-Run Accident

By Andrew Gorosko

Police this week arrested a self-employed Sherman carpenter on a felony charge for allegedly running over and seriously injuring a woman jogger with his pickup truck on Route 302 (Sugar Street) late last month, and then leaving the accident without stopping.

On June 18, hit-and-run victim Marianne Ryder, 43, of Dodgingtown was listed in good condition and recovering from her injuries in Danbury Hospital, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Last week, Ryder was listed in fair condition.

After learning that police held a court warrant for his arrest, Michael Williams, 32, of 10 Blackberry Lane, Sherman, came to the police station at 8 pm June 16 and was charged with evading responsibility with serious physical injury, which is a felony. Williams lists an alternate address of 9 Evans Hill Road, Sherman.

After booking Williams on the charge, police released him on a $75,000 surety bond for a July 1 appearance in Danbury Superior Court, where he will be arraigned before a judge. Williams, who is single, is represented by New Milford attorney Murray Kessler.

Detective Robert Koetsch, who investigated the case for police, said June 17 that additional charges involving motor vehicle violations may be filed against Williams.

Documents on file at Danbury Superior Court describe the circumstances of the hit-and-run accident, which occurred about 5 pm Thursday, May 29.

Ryder was jogging eastward along the eastbound road shoulder of Route 302, about 2,000 feet east of Route 302’s intersection with Head O’ Meadow Road, when an eastbound red Ford pickup truck allegedly driven by Williams struck Ryder from behind. The area has a posted 40-mph speed limit. Weather conditions were clear. The road was dry.

At 5:06 pm, police received several telephone calls alerting them that a pedestrian had been struck by a motor vehicle near 85 Sugar Street.

Patrol Officer Thomas Bean found Ryder lying in the eastbound lane of Route 302. An unidentified doctor, who had been passing by the accident scene, was tending to the woman.

“She [Ryder] was semiconscious, but could provide no details as to what had happened,” according to the court papers.

The Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps then transported Ryder to Danbury Hospital for treatment of serious injuries. 

 

Witnesses

In investigating the accident, police spoke to several witnesses.

Irene Cappellini, 71, of Newtown told police that she was driving eastward on Route 302. Cappellini had driven to Newtown from Bethel, and was traveling ahead of a red Ford pickup truck, according to the arrest warrant for Williams.

Cappellini told police that the pickup truck was driving very closely behind her and its horn was sounding. After Cappellini passed an eastbound bicyclist traveling along the road, she glanced into her rear-view mirror.

“She looked into her rear-view mirror and saw the red pickup truck and observed what she thought to be a person rolling in the roadway,” according to the court papers. Cappellini pulled her vehicle over onto the road shoulder and the pickup truck passed her, the document adds.

“She [Cappellini] then got behind the vehicle and followed it, at what she describes as a high rate of speed,” Det Koetsch states in his arrest warrant application. Cappellini spotted the fleeing pickup truck at the intersection of Routes 302 and 25, and then wrote down the truck’s marker plate number, noting that a white man was alone in the truck, according to the court papers.

Cappellini then contacted police about the hit-and-run accident.

Joseph Whelan, 38, of Newtown is another witness to the accident.

Whelan was riding his bicycle eastward on Route 302, between 25 and 30 mph, and saw Ryder jogging ahead of him and had a clear view of her.

After slowing down, Whelan, who was riding on the road’s shoulder line, passed Ryder on the left, according to the court documents.

“Whelan heard a ‘bang’ and the truck passed him…Whelan stated he saw a woman, who was the jogger, rolling beneath the truck and saw the front tires run over the woman’s legs…The jogger landed on the side of the road and the red truck continued eastbound on Route 302 without slowing down,” according to the court papers.

Motorist Joe Ginty, 46, of Danbury was driving westward on Route 302, near Elm Drive, and was stopped in traffic there.

Ginty told police he saw what appeared to be fresh damage on the front end of the pickup truck. Ginty described the truck driver’s appearance to police. Ginty later saw Ryder lying on the road where she had been struck, according to the court papers.

Investigation

After the accident, police spent about four hours investigating at the scene, collecting much evidence there.

Police seized four metal road reflector poles from along the eastbound road shoulder, which had been hit by the pickup truck, and which had residual red paint on them from the truck, according to the court papers. The poles were positioned at least three feet from the edge of the road’s pavement.

Police collected pieces of plastic debris that had fallen from the truck, as well as a sneaker with a red mark on it. Also, police made a casting of a tire mark in a dirt area alongside the road.

At 10:30 pm on May 29, police placed a telephone call to 10 Blackberry Lane in Sherman and learned that Robert Williams, who is Michael Williams’ father, was at home there. Robert Williams acknowledged that his son drove a pickup truck similar to one that was involved in the hit-and-run accident, according to police.

At 1:30 pm on May 30, Newtown police executed a search-and-seizure warrant at 10 Blackberry Lane in Sherman, seizing the truck that they believe struck Ryder the previous day. The truck’s right front grill and hood areas were damaged.

In their search-and-seizure warrant application, police stated they believe the offenses committed in the accident included reckless driving, evading responsibility, and failure to drive to the right.

Police attempted to interview Michael Williams on May 30 but “he refused to answer any questions based on the advice of legal counsel,” according to the court papers.

On June 3, state police inspected the pickup truck for evidence of the accident.

Police scraped a “bloodlike stain” from a mechanical part on the truck’s undercarriage, according to the arrest warrant.

“Several pieces of evidence recovered from the accident scene were perfect matches to damage on the front grill area of the red Ford pickup,” the legal papers state.

In the hit-and-run accident, Ryder suffered a fractured right thigh, a dislocated right elbow, a broken right forearm, a broken left shoulder blade, two broken ribs, liver and kidney damage, plus multiple cuts and bruises.