Pedestrians Struck; Driver Flees, Caught

by Thomas Breen | Apr 15, 2019 6:01 pm

(27) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Legal Writes, Downtown

A citizen followed a fleeing hit-and-run driver, and helped police find him hiding in the back of a Wooster Square pizzeria. This latest car-pedestrian collision took place at the heart of Yale’s campus downtown at the corner of High Street and Elm Street at 3:12 p.m. Two female Yale students were crossing Elm, not in the crosswalk, according to Lt. Herb Sharp. One driver stopped in time not to hit them. A second driver, one lane over, apparently didn’t see them as they kept walking. This driver struck the women. Then the driver continued driving, according to Sharp. Sgt. Brendan Borer and two other city police officers were on the scene minutes later, taping off the perimeter. Police closed all vehicle traffic on Elm Street between York Street and High Street. Meanwhile, a driver who had witnessed the collision followed the fleeing motorist — all the way to Wooster Square, where the fleeing motorist parked in the lot of Abate Pizza, according to Sharp. The motorist called police. Officers rushed over and found the driver hiding in the rear of the restaurant, which his father owns, Sharp said. If the driver had stayed at the scene, he probably wouldn’t have been charged with an offense, Sharp said. Now he faces an evading-responsibility charge. Sharp credited the officers’ “quick response” and “the critical role that the citizen played” for the arrest. “We are having an uptick in pedestrian being struck. It’s really important for pedestrians to understand to cross in the crosswalk and to be mindful of the traffic,” Sharp said. The two Yale students went to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Sharp. One injured her leg. The other complained of stomach pain. Paul Bass contributed reporting.

Share this story with others.

Post a Comment

Commenting has closed for this entry

Comments

posted by: cunningham Are the students okay? [Paul: yes, according to police.]

posted by: NHRed on April 15, 2019 7:11pm Future leaders of the free world yet they still don’t know to look left and right when crossing the street. SMH.

posted by: William Kurtz ““We are having an uptick in pedestrian being struck. It’s really important for pedestrians drivers to understand to cross in the crosswalk watch where they’re going and slow down and to be mindful of the traffic,” Sharp said.” There. I fixed that for you, Lieutenant.

posted by: FlyinLuchador on April 15, 2019 7:55pm Been driving these New Haven streets for 30 years, there isn’t a day that goes by without me biting my bottom lip trying to be a “nice neighbor” to the Yale community by not yelling at these students.

The students need to be more careful and obey pedestrian laws…..I don’t wish any harm to them but they will be hit again. They are careless and the Yale higher ups need to address this with their students

posted by: Hill Resident on April 15, 2019 9:27pm I think they should make it a part of freshman orientation. (1) Look up from you phone before you step off the curb onto the street. (2) Wait for cars to stop before you step in front of them. (3) Do not cross the street from in between parked cars. (4) Wait for the light to turn red and/or the walk signal to start before you cross. (5) Do not try to run across the street with only 2 seconds left on the cross walk clock. I work at the Yale central campus and there is never a moment that I am on the road to and from work that multiple student do not put themselves at risk of causing an accident or becoming an accident victim by their negligent interaction with 2 ton motorized metal machines!!! You are not in Kansas anymore Dorothy.

posted by: Dennis Serf on April 15, 2019 9:29pm When it comes to pedestrian safety, New York City has Vision Zero. New Haven has Zero Vision. Dennis Serfilippi

https://www.ournewhaven.org/

posted by: BetweenTwoRocks I bike everywhere and am usually the first person to vilify drivers, but some of these pedestrians are also insane and totally oblivious. Today I had to drive downtown and a woman literally just appeared from behind a parked car and walked straight into the road without even a glance up. Not at a crosswalk. Not during a red light. I had to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting her. Not that it makes a hit-and-run okay. I’m just surprised it doesn’t happen more often, given how people are paying attention either wandering into traffic or driving their cars.

posted by: AverageTaxpayer on April 16, 2019 3:35am I’m sure the driver had his eyes on the road, (it being the very middle of a college campus and such a heavy pedestrian area), and that the reckless pedestrians just dove in front of his car in an unavoidable scenario. That makes perfect sense. I mean what else explains his fleeing the scene? Goddamn Yale students…

posted by: budman on April 16, 2019 7:03am Yes, drivers need to slow down. Yes, pedestrians need to cross is a crosswalk. But has anyone noticed that the timing of the traffic lights have gotten horrible. Maybe the fact that drivers are getting every red light might be leading the to the driver frustration and be a contributing factor in these collisions? How about the city retime the traffic lights from getting all red lights, to getting green lights when you drive 25.?

posted by: redman on April 16, 2019 7:43am There was no mention of the students being ticketed for jay walking which is at epidemic proportions is New Haven.

posted by: George Polk on April 16, 2019 7:45am Gee Paul I guess we have a pretty Idea who the hit and run driver is. Followed the driver to the Abate Pizza parking lot and hiding in the restraunt his father owned. How old is he? Might that have been a factor in his flight? Anyway, it is getting worse as the future best and brightest arriving from years of car pools and living in cul-de-sac’s continue to treat Elm Street like they’re strolling on Harvard Yard. Here is one for the drivers side. Last Friday I was driving west on Humphrey coming up to the Traffic Light at Whitney Ave. I was driving at a safe speed, full disclosure there happened to be a NHPD patrol car behind me. I was about 175 yards from the Traffic Light, I had the green. I see a woman with salt and pepper hair walk off the curb and cross the street the light had already changed, it did not change green while she was at the curb, she glanced at me saw I had already slowed down continued on, yes she was between the lines. The patrol car gave a little blast of their horn, not sure if it was directed at her or perhaps alerting me that “An elitist is crossing, claiming right of way” and to slow down. I still had the green light as she reached the curb. So how many committees, commissions and traffic calming contraptions will be able to combat this type of mentality?

posted by: William Kurtz “Jaywalking” is some nonsense invented and promoted by car companies and automotive media earlier in the last century to justify terrible motorist behavior. You watch, with the coming push for driverless cars, ‘walking without a locator beacon’ will be the new ‘jaywalking.’ Might as well get the chip implanted in your arm now.

posted by: LorcaNotOrca on April 16, 2019 9:01am @WilliamKurtz, are you saying the students here had literally NO responsibility in this? Shouldn’t they have not walked into oncoming traffic and instead gone to a crosswalk?

Of course a driver must be paying attention and stop in time, but there are so many variables here. We all have to play our part.

posted by: Brewski on April 16, 2019 9:39am It is always the driver’s responsibility to be vigilant and maintain sufficient control of the vehicle. Whether it’s a child running after a ball, a stray dog, or a student buried in a cell phone and not paying attention. Yes, pedestrians should always use the crosswalk and yes, this is a particularly acute problem with students. My understanding is that the university does take steps to warn students about the (obvious) dangers. However, we need to just accept that this is a fact of life in a city that hosts a university. Drivers need to just always expect a hazard around every corner.

posted by: HewNaven on April 16, 2019 9:58am None of the articles I’ve seen indicate what color the light was… that should be important. Just this morning I observed a car roll through a RED LIGHT and almost wipe out a pedestrian who was crossing LEGALLY. The saddest part was watching the guy’s face thinking “I almost just died” and the driver just keep on rolling like nothing had happened. I’m not sure he even noticed what had happened.

posted by: ShadowBoxer on April 16, 2019 11:12am Aside from the fact that drivers do drive too fast in the vicinity of a college campus (hello? there are bound to be distracted jaywalkers near a college) and that Yale students often don’t abide by traffic and pedestrian signals, among the reasons I think they do not is because THE USER INTERFACE is not intuitive or friendly. The city has many one ways: eg Hillhouse traveling north at Trumbull Street. When the Trumbull Street light is green (the vast majority of the time) the Hillhouse crosswalk should AUTOmatically change to a white walk sign, There is a no right turn allowed there anyway. No one should have to push a button and wait. This is also true at the intersection of Crown and Temple, and even College & Crown. Those should also turn to a walk sign automatically but they don’t. Moreover, when you press a button to cross, you often just hear a beep, but there is no timer or counters on the streets signs. Instead of a static red hand, how about a timer that counts down, so the pedestrian knows his request to cross has registered? Even today, crossing at the relatively new crosswalk at Wall Street and Temple, the push button for the pedestrian signal is located too far from the sidewalk so that in one smooth motion one can touch it. And how many times have I seen drivers nearly run someone over outside of Good Nature market & the cops there and Dunkin Donuts bat not an eye lash. That intersection and the Trumbull and Whitney are treacherous at rush hour especially. The Yale alder should be a liaison on matters like this, since the vast majority of pedestrians are Yale and Yale affiliates around the Yale campus. Has he done anything? With the spring and arrival of dirtbikes, things will become more dangerous. But intuitive, user-friendly USER INTERFACES with timers, automatic signals, and easy to reach buttons would make students more likely to interact with the technology, but when the tech is considered unresponsive or sluggish, it is ignored.

posted by: jsedelstein on April 16, 2019 12:32pm I have lived in New Haven for decades and this part of Elm Street has always been a problem. Yes, pedestrians DO have the right of way and yes, the law requires motorists to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk. But as someone else noted, we must all be vigilant, motorists and student pedestrians alike. Why doesn’t New Haven do what other cities have done where they don’t want people to cross: construct a barrier, which can be as simple as a wrought iron fence along blocks where “jaywalking” in an ongoing problem. If people won’t be responsible for their own safety, then prevent them from crossing in the middle of the block by “funneling” them to the crosswalk!

posted by: Squarn on April 16, 2019 1:23pm New Haven is the only town I have ever been to where pedestrians expect traffic to grind to a halt whenever and wherever they decide to cross the road. The proliferation of “traffic calming” measures in well-off neighborhoods has actually emboldened the “pedestrian privilege” mentality in this town (which also raises the question where are traffic calming measures in poorer neighborhoods where off-road motorcycles run amok). Many pedestrians and cyclists have a one sided “share the road” mantra where cars are expected accommodate all of their behavior, no matter how dangerous. Is it going to kill you to wait a few seconds for traffic to clear so you can cross the street? It might if you don’t…

With its narrow streets, New Haven is a tough town for cyclists, I realize this. But wishful thinking in absence of a comprehensive plan/rules isn’t going to work.

posted by: 1644 on April 16, 2019 1:43pm This section of Elm is particularly bad as the exit from the Old Campus (between Wright and Durfees) and the access to Cross Campus (Porter Gate) are both mid-block, rather than at any intersections, so students crossing tend to cross diagonally mid-block. In the 1960’s there was a proposal to tunnel Elm Street for this stretch.

posted by: Brewski on April 16, 2019 2:41pm @Squarn What narrow streets? Most of the streets are plenty wide - especially the part of Elm St where this happened. The problem is that they stuff them with too many lanes and parking on both sides.

posted by: bipartisan on April 16, 2019 4:48pm As jsedelstein writes, this has been a risk for decades. What Yale and New Haven should have done long ago is build a tunnel under Elm Street between the York and College streets and route vehicle traffic below, meanwhile turning Elm Street above ground into a pedestrian-only area. Of course it would cost millions, but Yale has the money and this would be a worthwhile life-saving action by the University. Yesterday’s students were lucky. Tomorrow’s will not be. And meanwhile, Mr. Abate’s son has a nice, if painful, opportunity to become an adult.

posted by: Cove’d on April 16, 2019 6:50pm Sounds like it was the classic Multiple-Lane-Threat-Crash: https://wordonstreet.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/multiple-lane-threat-crashes/

Responsibilities of people on-foot and motorists aside (though it should be obvious to motorists in a city center that pedestrian can appear out of ‘nowhere’ and thus drivers should be ready to stop at a moments notice = don’t speed), whenever there are multiple lanes on a street going in the same direction like the many one-way streets in New Haven this type of crash is more likely to occur.

posted by: bikyst on April 17, 2019 1:11pm This car vs. pedestrian crash is no surprise. Tons of students do not us the cross walk at Elm and High Streets. Nor do they use the cross walk at Elm and College Streets. They cross mid block all of time. I bike this area every time from work and I’m always binging my bell when this is occurring in front of me. Yale can use its $29 billion and place a sidewalk fence on either side of this block that forces the pedestrians to use these two cross walks instead of crossing Elm Street mid block which sounds like what happened at this crash scene. Luckily no one died….

posted by: bikyst on April 17, 2019 2:12pm Here is an example that can be placed on the south side of Elm Street. The north side of Elm Street has car meter parking and needs to be accessible to drivers. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.delmarvanow.com/amp/1293158002

posted by: Cove’d on April 17, 2019 4:32pm Not really a fan of corralling fences in cities/town-centers. Perhaps some landscaping/plantings could help achieve some of that affect, but it should ultimately be paired with converting Elm to 2-way and/or a road-diet of Elm - both of which can lessen multi-lane-threats and can also help temper speeding motorists.

posted by: Wilmeyer99 on April 19, 2019 7:00am Squarn: PERFECT comment. It’s not even really like an “opinion”. It’s the truth, period.