Joshua Rita, 25, of Meriden, has been charged with operating under the influence of drugs or alcohol and failure to slow down or move over for emergency vehicle. Bond was set at $2,500 and he is due in court December 28.
On July 17 around 10:40 p.m., State Police responded to a crash on I-91 northbound, past Exit 20, in the area of Middletown. They say a drunk driver hit the guardrail, and the Department of Transportation needed to repair it as it was dangerous to the public.
During the road work, three cars were parked blocking the left of three lanes and the left shoulder: two DOT trucks with lit up arrows pointing traffic to the right, and between them a State Police cruiser with it’s emergency lights activated.
Two witnesses (in one car) driving just behind Rita pulled over to help and see if anyone was hurt. The driver of that car said he noticed the white sedan swerve into the left shoulder three or four times before the crash, and even exclaimed that he thought the car was going to hit the cruiser just seconds before it did.
While the witnesses spoke to Rita, Rita asked if the driver of the other car was OK. When told that it was a police officer, he was shocked, the witnesses said. They asked him if he’d noticed the red and blue lights flashing, and he said no.
Rita later told a responding officer that he didn’t notice the lights from the cruiser or the DOT trucks.
The officer had more serious injuries. Police say he injured his head, neck and back, and that his head possibly hit the windshield since hair was stuck in the dent.
The second charge, failure to move over, is related to the state’s Move Over law, which was enacted in 2009 and instructs drivers to immediately slow down when they see flashing lights of any kind — police, construction workers, tow truck drivers etc. — and to move over a lane if it is safe to do so.
