GRISWOLD, Conn. — A Norwich man is facing charges after police said he crashed into another car and left the scene in Griswold Sunday.
Franklin Post, 35, was arraigned from his hospital bed Monday afternoon.
The crash happened just before 5 p.m. near the intersection of Taylor Hill Rd. and Oakville Rd. That’s when police said Post, driving an Audi, blew through a stop sign at a high rate of speed and hit a GMC Acadia with three people in it.
Two of the people in the SUV were sent to the hospital. One of them, 96-year-old Charlotte Degrado, was pronounced dead a short time later. She was just days away from her 97th birthday. The second person reported having minor injuries.
Police said the three males inside the Audi left the scene.
“It was pretty awful. You know, just the accident itself kind of, is almost like, I’m surprised the car didn’t flip over. The way it got hit,” said Dean Rubino, the owner of Rubino’s Full Circle, which is feet away from the crash site.
Rubino was not working at the time of the incident, but was at home just down the street.
“We were outside, and we heard a loud smash, and I said ‘That can’t be good.’ So, my son was working here, and I called him and he said ‘Yeah it’s pretty bad, there’s an older woman in the backseat.' So, we ran right down,” Rubino said.
Rubino said he could tell his son was shaken up after what he had seen. He showed surveillance video of the incident, showing the collision, followed by three men who get out of the car, grab a few things and run away.
In a police report, police said they found “numerous marijuana paraphernalia, along with a knife, unopened alcoholic beverages, a marked bottle of prescription pills belonging to a Franklin Post, and an unmarked blue pill bottle contain an assortment of small blue oval shape pills.”
From multiple witnesses on scene and video captured by a third driver who was stopped on the other side of the intersection, police found one of the passengers close by. That person was detained and then sent to the hospital with minor injuries.
The police report said officers then recognized Post as the driver in the video shown to them on scene.
Hours later, after several reports from neighbors, police found Post hiding out in the woods behind the Indian Ridge Apartments.
In the police report, Post told officers he smoked marijuana recently and was “nodding off” or falling asleep while in the front seat.
Officers said they also found out Post had an ankle bracelet that he tampered with, pills that tested positive for fentanyl and more than $4,000 worth of cash.
“You have the right to remain silent,” said the judge in a Norwich courtroom Monday afternoon, as Post was being arraigned from his hospital bed. He was sent to the hospital after being arrested, reporting minor injuries from the crash.
“He does have a record that dates back to 2006,” said the bail commissioner.
The commissioner took several minutes to go through Post’s criminal history, which includes six pending cases in the Norwich court system alone. He was last arrested in April of 2024.
“To date, he has posted a total of $325,000 in bond,” the commissioner said.
In relation to Sunday’s crash, Post is facing the following charges: Criminal Mischief, Violation of Conditions of Release, Interfering, Possession of a Controlled Substance, Possession of a Controlled Substance with Intent to Sell, Operating Under the Influence and Evading Responsibility Resulting in Death.
The judge set Post’s bond at $1.5 million and scheduled another court date for the case for July 12. If Post can make that bond, he will be under GPS monitoring, and a 24/7 lockdown at his home in Norwich.
“I’m not posting that bond, there’s no way I can make it,” Post said during the proceeding.
With the crash cleared and neighbors reflecting on what happened, Rubino pointed out the dangers of the intersection where it took place.
“Just a lot of accidents. People on their phones blow through this stop sign like, too much, you know especially fast,” Rubino said. “I’ve almost gotten hit just pulling out right here because cars will just come around and just keep going. They don’t stop.”
Rubino said given this incident, another fatality last year, and another crash at nearby intersection two weeks ago, that something needs to be done.
“If they could do something, that’s their decision but something should be done. All the stop signs are kind of bad but, I don’t know what they can do,” Rubino said.
Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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