A red Honda Civic DX from a line between 1996 to 2000 is believed to be the automobile that a hit-and-run suspect was driving when a 49-year-old man was killed in a collision on June 24. Authorities were continuing their search for the driver as of June 29.
The crash occurred near Orange Avenue along Ella T. Grasso Boulevard in New Haven. At approximately 10 p.m., the victim, a resident of Wallingford, was with a friend when he began to walk across the road outside of a crosswalk. The police stated that the man’s friend attempted to make him stop for traffic when he was hit by the vehicle. The driver fled the scene after striking the victim and was last seen traveling southbound.
Police believed that the vehicle was likely to have sustained damage to its front end and a possible missing side mirror. The driver’s speed was not specified in either the initial news report or an updated account.
An unfortunate fact of cases in which a driver flees a crash is that some hit-and-run suspects are not found before the statute of limitations on a civil action expires. In a case where a driver flees after striking and killing a pedestrian who was unobservant of the established crosswalks, securing compensation for the surviving family members’ losses may be complicated.
Due to a victim’s possible lack of caution, his or her insurance provider may be resistant to provide bereaved relatives with compensation. A lawyer who is knowledgeable regarding hit-and-run cases may be able to effectively communicate to an insurance provider that the driver’s fault in the pedestrian accident exceeded that of the victim and that awarding a settlement to the family may be a suitable course of action.
Source: New Haven Register, “New Haven police release more details on fatal hit-and-run crash“, June 29, 2014
