Guilford man sues over car crash

05/08/2006

Stan Fisher , Register Correspondent

CLINTON — A lawsuit filed on behalf of a Guilford man claims that injuries he received in a 2005 automobile crash resulted from a volunteer firefighter’s pursuit, with the assistance and encouragement of town emergency dispatchers. The lawsuit, filed last week by Catherine Hopkins on behalf of Walker Hopkins, names as defendants Clinton volunteer firefighter Matthew Vincent, the town, the Clinton Volunteer Fire Department and William Cardillo of Madison, described as the driver of the car.

According to the police account of the Aug. 5, 2005, accident, Hopkins, 19, was airlifted with critical injuries to Yale-New Haven Hospital after being thrown from a fast-moving vehicle that hit a tree on Ironworks Road, and then flipped end-over-end.

In a coma for several weeks after the accident and still suffering the effects of a brain injury, Hopkins now has difficulty speaking and learning, and is undergoing therapy at Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, according to his attorney, Michael Stratton of New Haven.

Cardillo, 22, also was ejected from the car, and flown to Yale-New Haven for treatment of less severe injuries. A third, seat-belt-wearing passenger, Jackie Douglas, 18, of Clinton, was removed from the wreckage by the Clinton fire department, and released later that night after treatment at Yale-New Haven, police said.

The crash followed an earlier accident at Route 81 and Glenwood Road involving the Hopkins’ car and a vehicle driven by Vincent, police said. The car Hopkins was in crashed into Vincent’s car as the latter turned onto Glenwood Road.

In Stratton’s version of the events that followed, "(Cardillo), for whatever reason, left the scene (of the Route 81 accident). (Vincent) began to pursue their vehicle using his blue emergency lights."

In radio communications with the town’s emergency communications center, the lawsuit maintains that dispatchers "encouraged" Vincent to "chase and pursue (the Hopkins/Cardillo car) at high rates of speed."

Stratton argues that the town’s firefighters have no authority to engage in a high-speed pursuit, nor to use their blue emergency lights under such circumstances.

According to police Chief Joseph Faughnan, the police investigation of the accident determined that Vincent was not responsible for the first accident on Route 81, nor did he cause the crash on Ironworks Road.

In Faughnan’s words, Vincent was "following, not chasing, the car to obtain its registration number," which he eventually radioed to the communications center.

Faughnan confirmed Vincent’s use of his blue lights, for which he was issued an infraction.

While Stratton identified Cardillo as the driver of the car, police say their investigation of the accident, and the identity of the driver, continues.

Faughnan had no comment on the legal claims, while Vincent and Cardillo could not be reached for comment.