Police Make Arrest in 2010 Fatal Accident

After nearly one year, police have arrested a 74-year-old Willington man who they said is responsible for a 2010 motor vehicle accident that killed one man and injured another in Mansfield.

Connecticut State Police arrested Charles E. Donnelly on Sunday after obtaining a warrant from Tolland Superior Court in Rockville. Donnelly is charged with negligent homicide with a motor vehicle and failure to drive right.

The fatal crash happened on March 17, 2010 at the intersection of Route 44 East and Route 32 in Mansfield. Donnelly’s Volvo station wagon was traveling west on Route 44, police said, when the vehicle turned into the eastbound lane and struck a Ducati motorcycle being driven by Troy DiClemente, 22, of South Glastonbury, according to the arrest warrant application. DiClemente’s brother, 24-year-old Nyle DiClemente became “disengaged” from his Honda CBR motorcycle, and was injured in his attempt to avoid the collision, police said.

Police said Donnelly continued to travel west, drove off the eastbound side of the highway and collided into a utility pole.

Troy DiClemente was pronounced dead at the scene by Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Nyle DiClemente was treated for leg injuries at Hartford Hospital and later released.

Donnelly was transported to Windham Hospital and was released.

Over the course of the investigation, police have been in contact with several witnesses who said they saw Donnelly’s Volvo cross the double yellow line into the traveling lane of the DiClemente’s motorcycles. Witness statements, in conjunction with the investigation of the scene and vehicle damage, led police to request an arrest warrant for Donnelly in February, according to the arrest warrant application.

One witness told police that he had seen Donnelly begin to drive “erratically," near the Mobil Station just west of the Route 195 intersection, and that right before the collision “it was almost like [Donnelly] fell asleep,” according to the arrest warrant application.

Donnelly told police after the accident that he was "drifting a bit to the left" of the road, but that he couldn’t remember what happened, according to the arrest warrant application. Donnelly added in a written statement to police that his car had been pulling to the left for a short time, and that he had been planning on getting it looked at by a mechanic, police said.

Officials later performed a post-collision vehicle inspection on all of the vehicles, that “did not reveal any mechanical deficiencies that would have contributed to the collision,” according to the arrest warrant application.

Results from a voluntary blood sample provided by Donnelly at Windham hospital after the accident came back in April 2010 showing that he had not consumed alcohol prior to the collision, but drug test results received in August 2010 revealed two medications in his blood sample: a generic antidepressant and a common allergy medication. Donnelly takes several doctor prescribed medications, normally at night before bed, according to police and the affidavit.

In a written statement to police in January, Donnelly said that he took Benedryl “around the day of the accident” for a runny nose.

Donnelly has been released on $25,000 bail, according to court reports and is next to appear in Tolland Superior Court in Rockville on March 29.