Portland police looking for Audi that hit, killed Middletown man

PORTLAND - Police are pressing their hunt for the car they say slammed into a moped Saturday evening on the Arrigoni Bridge late Saturday night, killing a 22-year-old Middletown man.

Using information provided by an eyewitness to the accident as well as surveillance video of the bridge, police Monday harrowed their search for a four-door 1996-99 Audi A4 sedan.

Police believe the car for which they are hunting features an unusual white “pearlescent” paint. It also is missing much of the right front quarter panel, which was ripped off the car in the collision with the moped, Officer Paul Liseo said.

Liseo is the lead investigator into the 10:52 p.m. collission, in which the moped was run down from behind in the eastbound lanes approximately midway across the bridge. The accident took the life of Daquan Moore.

Moore was rushed to Middlesex Hospital, but “was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after the accident,” Liseo said.

The crash left a more than 500-foot-long trail of debris and wreckage “from the point of impact to the final resting place of the scooter,” Liseo said.

Police believe the Audi was racing across the bridge with another car as they came from Middletown headed toward Portland.

An eyewitness told police that after striking Moore, the driver of the Audi continued across the bridge and then turned around near the intersection with Silver Street and re-crossed the bridge back to Middletown.

Police would not confirm reports the driver slowed as he passed the wreckage of Moore’s ruined moped as he headed back to Middletown.

Police from Portland and Middletown as well as fire and ambulance units all swarmed to the bridge after receiving 911 calls alerting them to the accident.

Using debris from the car that was recovered at the scene and the expertise of a local auto-body owner as well as the witness statements and the videos, police were able to narrow down the type of car rather quickly. Liseo is being assisted in the investigation by Middletown Police Traffic Division/Accident Reconstruction Team.

Throughout the day Monday, Liseo and Traffic Division officers worked to further narrow the scope of their investigation.

Each step that reduces the number of vehicles that fit the description of the suspect vehicle means police can more narrowly focus their hunt for the driver, they said.

“There is still more video to look at,” Liseo said. “That white pearlescent is a very rare color.”

According to a British car color website, “Pearlescent paints replace the metal particles with ceramic crystals (often called “mica”) that don’t just reflect light but refract it too, splitting it into different colors by allowing some light in and slowing it down as it passes through. This gives the paint not just a sparkle, but a deep color that can vary depending on how you look at it, making for interesting effects where the car’s bodywork creases or changes direction. In direct sunlight, pearlescent paint knocks spots off metallic finishes.”

The fact the car is of a rare color and paint style also increases the likelihood that more people may recognize it, police said.

Even as he pressed his investigation, Liseo asked anyone with information about this incident to come forward. Individuals with information can call either Portland Police at 860 342-6780 or Central Dispatch at 860-347-2541, Liseo said. All calls will be kept confidential, police said.