DANBURY — A Waterbury man sped away from a weekend motor vehicle stop and crashed into a jeep, killing the driver, police said.
Eric Sciarretta, 25, of Mountain Laurel Drive, was charged with manslaughter, state police said Tuesday. He also was charged with reckless driving, engaging in pursuit, operating an unregistered motor vehicle, operating without insurance and failure to wear a seatbelt.
Neither the identity of the deceased driver nor that of his passenger, who sustained head and chest injuries, was released by Tuesday morning.
According to the state police, a trooper pulled over the Acura Sciarretta was driving shortly after 6:30 p.m. Sunday on the exit 5 on ramp of I-84 east. The alleged violation was failure to wear a seatbelt, they said.
The trooper talked to Sciarretta and walked back to his patrol car when Sciarretta took off, police said. The trooper got into the patrol car and chased him from I-84 east to Route 7 north, but a sergeant called off the high-speed pursuit as the trooper got off at exit 11, they said.
As the trooper continued down the exit ramp, he saw that Sciarretta had crashed into a Jeep Grand Cherokee that had been traveling on White Turkey Road Extension at the bottom of the ramp, police said.
The driver was transported to Danbury Hospital, where he was pronounced dead; the passenger was seriously injured, state police said.
Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to call the Troop A barracks in Southbury at 203-267-2200.