Another Driver Kills Another Pedestrian

by Staff | Feb 24, 2020 8:36 am

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Posted to: True Vote

A driver hit and killed a pedestrian in the Bishop Woods/Quinnipiac Meadows neighborhood Sunday evening. The crash occurred on Middletown Avenue near Cross Street, according to police spokesman Capt. Anthony Duff. The Accident Reconstruction Team is on scene. The driver remained at the scene after the crash. The victim was a 68-year-old man named Govinda B. Kandel. Police did not immediately have more details to report Sunday evening. It was the fourth time already in 2020 that a driver has killed a pedestrian in New Haven. On Jan. 14, 50-year-old New Havener Arthur Bastek was struck and killed on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard. On Jan. 22, 55-year-old New Havener Kevin Anthony Cunningham was struck and killed on Whalley Avenue. On the night of Feb. 17, Gilberto Molina, a 44-year-old native of Puerto Rico, became the third pedestrian to be struck and killed by a car in New Haven already this year when he was hit on Columbus Avenue near West Street. Earlier Sunday, police arrested a driver who struck a 42-year-old woman. That crash took place Sunday around 3 a.m. A 37-year-old New Haven woman was driving a compact Chevy Crossover sports utility vehicle in the 400 block of Dixwell Avenue between Argyle and Gibbs when she struck the pedestrian, according to Capt. Duff. Police came on the scene to find the pedestrian lying “unresponsive” in the roadway, with the driver “also in the roadway, holding onto the pedestrian to comfort her,” Duff wrote in a release. The pedestrian was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital, “where she remains in critical condition with life threatening injuries,” Duff reported mid-Sunday. Sunday evening, it was reported that the victim is expected to survive. Monday Duff reported she is in “critical but stable” condition. There were two passengers in the car as well. The front-seat passenger went by ambulance to the hospital for evaluation of a possible minor injury. The rear-seat passenger was uninjured. The driver failed a field sobriety test. Police charged her with second-degree assault with a motor vehicle, driving under the influence, failure to use care near a vulnerable person, and distracted driving. She was released on $50,000 bond. In another incident this month, a driver hit a walker being used by a 57-year-old woman to cross Whalley Avenue near Blake Street in the crosswalk, knocking her to the ground and injuring her.

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posted by: WoosterSquared on February 24, 2020 9:41am Mayor Elicker talks a big game about safe streets, says it’s partly why he got into politics. Already we’ve had 4 preventable traffic deaths on his watch. And where is he??? We need real action.

posted by: Noteworthy on February 24, 2020 9:54am There is near zero context to any of these accidents and no follow up to them so an assessment can be made as to fault and circumstances. As a driver, I’ve had people literally walk into the crosswalk at a light controlled intersection into traffic; and others wearing black on a rainy night walking next to parked cars on Dixwell Avenue and were almost impossible to see. Let’s see some reporting on the details of these accidents. [Paul: I agree. We’re trying! The police department has felt hesitant to release many details about incidents that remain “under investigation” for six months to a year.]

posted by: martha-stewart on February 24, 2020 10:19am Yes I agree. Let’s please remind Mr. Elicker to please not to forget to use his magic powers which stop people from drunk driving.

posted by: cunningham Stepped-up enforcement is critical here — drivers need to know that there are real consequences if they behave recklessly. But enforcement alone isn’t going to solve this problem. Drivers speed because the roads accommodate speeding. Pedestrians cross mid-block because the crosswalks aren’t adequate. We need to narrow roadways with bike lanes, bus lanes, etc.

posted by: Jill_the_Pill on February 24, 2020 11:20am As a generally nervous driver, I am often startled by pedestrians and cyclists on the road at night in dark clothing with no reflectors. Part of the answer may be an informational campaign around reflectors and bike safety, maybe handing out free reflective stickers. (Clearly drivers are careless, speeding, using their phones—I don’t want to absolve them at all by saying this.)

posted by: Reclaimer53 on February 24, 2020 12:05pm Friday night I was driving home down the boulevard. I couldn’t pass because over a 100 cars took it over street racing. I called the PD and nothing was done. How is it ok that this goes on???

posted by: LorcaNotOrca on February 24, 2020 12:09pm @WoosterSquared:

The nerve of Mayor Elicker not singlehandedly solving an ongoing and complex problem after two whole months in office!!

posted by: Sabrina-in-NewHaven on February 24, 2020 12:53pm It’s not just pedestrians being killed. A friend of the family lost a loved one to a drag racing a##hole who blind sided him and flipped his car three times. Of course the jerk fled the scene. Another reason why we need traffic cams. Red lights cams to start. I am tired of waving so drivers know I have the right of way when they is no TURN ON RED. I’ve stopped walking to work because it is unbelievably dangerous for us. No one is in that much of a rush. And yes there are plenty of morons walking around at night in dark clothes and will cross in the middle of traffic. When I used to visit I could not believe the nerve of some people. However, you are still responsible for knowing your surroundings and keeping at the speed limit. Look for kids playing, old folks who can’t make it across in 15 secs. At the end of the day the driver is responsible.

posted by: Checking on February 24, 2020 1:24pm @LorcaNotOrca Guess you missed all the times last year when King Justin blamed Mayor Harp every time a gun went off in the city…

posted by: Clarity on February 24, 2020 5:04pm Stop the hysterics! How the heck can police have prevented an idiot getting in his car and driving drunk, or the Mayor for that matter. Agenda-driven nonsense… and the media plays right into it to get views and ratings.

posted by: anonymous on February 24, 2020 6:32pm This is a crisis. Elicker, please start ticketing people for speeding, like the police did under DeStefano for a couple years after a slew of traffic deaths in 2008, and immediately narrowing dangerous streets throughout the city with concrete barriers, like the city did 10 years ago with River Street and Long Wharf Drive.

posted by: William Kurtz The same crowd that’s saying, “eh, they’re not lit up like Christmas trees, what do they expect?” would be calling for martial law if there had been four murders in the same time period.