DUI Charge Lodged InÂ Tanker Crash

By ANDY GOROSKO

Published: Dec 12, 2003 12:00 am

By Andrew Gorosko

Police this week charged a Sandy Hook man with driving under the influence in connection with an early morning September accident, in which the sport-utility vehicle that was driving on South Main Street crashed head-on into a tractor-trailer truck that was hauling 8,400 gallons of gasoline. The accident caused a massive fire, extensive property damage, and pollution problems.

Police said that after learning that they held a warrant for his arrest, motorist John Riguzzi of 5 Walker Hill Road turned himself over to them at the police station on the afternoon of December 10. Riguzzi turns age 32 on December 12.

After processing his arrest, police released Riguzzi on a $50 bond for a December 16 arraignment on the charge in Danbury Superior Court.

The gasoline tanker accident sent flames shooting 200 feet into the air. The immense fire burned for several hours, causing major traffic delays.

Fred H. Mehin, 63, of 659 Middlebury Road, Middlebury, was driving the tractor-trailer gasoline tanker truck northward on South Main Street about 2:12 am September 27, as Riguzzi was driving a 2002 Nissan X-Terra sport-utility vehicle southward. The Nissan crossed the roadâs centerline and collided head-on with the tanker truck in the northbound lane, police have said. The collision occurred about 200 feet south of South Main Streetâs southernmost intersection with Elm Drive.

Mehin, who received a burn on his face, was able to get away from the tanker truck after the crash.

An unidentified passerby pulled Riguzzi from the Nissan. Three firefighters later pulled Riguzzi away from the wreckage. The ambulance corps transported Riguzzi to Danbury Hospital, where he was admitted as a patient and spent a period recovering from multiple injuries.

After the crash, about a dozen people who were living in two houses near the accident were evacuated from the area to safety.

The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) found that some groundwater near the accident scene to be contaminated with MTBE, a toxic gasoline additive.

Workers removed approximately 500 cubic yards of contaminated soil from the area. It is estimated that between 400 and 500 gallons of gasoline spilled from the gasoline tanker and drained away, causing the soil contamination. The remainder of the estimated 8,400 gallons of gasoline that was being hauled in the tanker truck burned for several hours in a massive fire until it burned itself out.

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Reservoir Rd. does indeed appear to have an interesting history that I often ponder as I hike the Rochambeau Trail. Early on it was apparently part of a main route from the center of the Borough to Taunton, which went up Mt. Pleasant Rd. and then roughly followed a watershed boundary from Mount Pleasant to Taunton Hill. When the current switchback road was built from West St. to Castle Hill in the 1800s, replacing the indirect route through the campground that Rochambeau used, the part of that original route to Taunton now known as Reservoir Rd. became redundant. But on an 1868 town map and topographic maps from 1892 and 1915, it looks like both routes were still maintained as roads. By the time of the 1934 aerial survey of CT, the connection to Mount Pleasant Rd. (maybe called Reservoir Rd. by then since the reservoir is visible) even had two outlets onto Castle Hill Rd. Since it is only shown as a partial dashed line on a 1953 topographic map, it may have stopped being maintained as a passable through road by then. But on a 1963 topographic map, where the section down to Knollwood Dr. had become a normal road again, the other end is shown as a dashed-line road, still with two connections to Castle Hill Rd., and a structure on the east side where one can still find remnants of a house today. Maybe a longtime resident can add comments about what it looked like in the 1950s and 1960s?

Clarity on Reservoir Road and the Rochambeau Trail

Please stop referring to your fellow Newtowners as the Mob. I was at the Legislative Council meeting where Mr. Pisani insulted the intelligence of a room full of Newtown voters; twice, and not in a satirical way. Plenty of new projects have been given the green light - the repurposing of the Taunton Press property is a welcome addition to Town, a new retail center is under construction on Church Hill Rd there are ongoing plans for the existing Fairfield Hills campus. Newtown is a wonderful place to live. Kudos to the Town officials who have managed to grow Newtown and maintain a small town feel, which may mean saying no to development more often than you would like. There will always be two sides to any proposal - different points of view are welcome and essential - name calling adds nothing to the conversation.

Who is Calling Newtowners Stupid?

Appreciate your perspective. Rather than litiate all of your opinions expressed here, here....I would like correct your opinion about the BOS having the final authority on road discontinuance decisions. State statute (CT GS 13a-49), requires the BOS' decision to be approvate by a majority vote at a regular or special town meeting (just like the one Newtown had a few years back to decide to spend the money to build an addition onto the High School). In towns that no longer have any town meetings, that responsibility would fall on the town's representaive government, or legislative body....in Newtown's case, our Legislative Council. Failure to follow this statutory process is but one of the reasons the town/the BOS is being sued.

There are many private roads in Newtown where they property owner owns right to the center line, for example this is often true in the lake communities. Many of these roads predate and do not conform to the Town's roads standard and therefore the Town never accepted them into the Town road system. Does the Town actually own this road?

It’s important to clarify the tone and context of Derek Pisani’s remarks, particularly the satirical line about suing Newtown for "Gross Stupidity." This was clearly a tongue-in-cheek jab at the exhausting culture of legal threats that’s become a staple on the local Facebook Group forums. It was a reflection of frustration over endless regulatory hurdles and obstructionism, and the desire to avoid common sense solutions not an insult aimed at residents. Satire, is meant to provoke thought and highlight the absurdities. If we are unable to distinguish between satire and literal threats, perhaps the comment hit closer to the truth than we’d like to admit. Rather than focusing on Pisanis style, we should be discussing the substance of what he’s pointing out: that Newtown’s progress is being routinely blocked by a small but vocal contingent who seem intent on saying “no” at every turn. They are saying no to any development, no to common sense solutions to crowd control, etc. Newtown deserves leaders who are willing to call things as they see them, even if their language ruffles feathers. That doesn’t mean they lack respect for constituents—it means they care enough to challenge the Mob and push for solutions. Isn't that what we elect people to do? I applaud Pisani's dedication, he certainly has earned my vote. Regardless, let’s not reduce conversation to tone-policing and outrage. Let’s focus on the issues that matter.

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DUI Charge Lodged InÂ Tanker Crash

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