State Police sergeant under investigation following crash

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SOUTHBURY — A State Police sergeant in under investigation in connection with a motor-vehicle collision in Southbury in late September that caused serious injuries.

Authorities said Tuesday that Sgt. John McDonald is currently the focus of multiple investigations.

NBC Connecticut is reporting that McDonald, assigned to the Western District Major Crimes Unit in Southbury, had been reportedly at at a trooper retirement party at an Oxford brewery the afternoon of the crash. The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection is reviewing his activity prior to the incident, which injured two women from Middlebury.

Authorities said McDonald, was off duty behind the wheel of his unmarked, detective’s vehicle, when he didn’t stop at a stop sign and crashed into another vehicle injuring a woman and her daughter.

State police initially told Hearst Connecticut Media that the crash was being investigated, but did not answer questions on whether McDonald had been required to take a blood alcohol test.

McDonald refused treatment at the hospital, so his blood alcohol content was not taken by a blood test, according to DESPP executive aide Brian Foley told NBC CT Tueday.

Under ordinary circumstances, medical treatment would likely include a blood test which would have indicated his blood alcohol content after the crash.