Newington - Police Arrest Driver in Fatal Accident

James Sabatini

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Police have arrested a 26-year-old man on charges that he was criminally negligent when the Ford Expedition he was driving slammed into a motorcyclist last year in a deadly accident near the Berlin Turnpike. Meriden resident Timothy Stevens had been involved in two minor car accidents minutes before the Oct. 3 crash that killed 42-year-old James Delude, police said.

The first happened in the Hops restaurant parking lot on the turnpike, where Stevens allegedly hit a car and drove off without reporting it. The second accident occurred soon after, police said, when Stevens' Expedition struck another vehicle in the nearby Lowe's parking lot. The third and fatal accident occurred after Stevens drove away from Lowe's.
At 6:58 p.m., Delude was about a mile from his Newington home and stopped at a red light at Griswoldville Avenue and Deming Street. As he sat on his motorcycle, the Expedition rammed him from behind, police said. Delude was taken to a hospital with a broken neck and was later removed from life support, a family member has said.
Police have stated that Stevens was not under the influence. However, the police did not disclose if he was suffering from a medical condition that was impairing his abiility to drive. However, it is certainly odd to be involved in three accidents within such a short time period. Something was obviously wrong and police and now the prosecutor must believe that Stevens knew that something was wrong and should I stopped driving his SUV, but he did not and it lead to this fatal and tragic collision with the motorcyclist.