MERIDEN, Conn. — The city of Meriden was stunned after a hit and run on March 21 left the World War I Wall of Honor memorial on the ground in pieces.
Meriden police vowed to find whoever caused the destruction and say that they did.
Last Monday, Meriden police arrested 43-year-old Conor Walsh for allegedly driving a white 2013 GMC Sierra K1500 into the memorial and fleeing the scene, according to the department’s Facebook page on Saturday.
Walsh has been charged with evading responsibility in a motor vehicle collision, operating a motor vehicle while license or registration is suspended, reckless driving, and failure to drive right in violation of multiple Connecticut General Statues, police said.
Around 10:04 p.m. on March 21, Meriden police received a report of a motor vehicle collision involving the memorial in the median of Broad Street just south of East Main Street, police said, noting that the vehicle involved fled the scene prior to police arrival.
Officer Shelby Saleeba responded and recovered evidence, including motor vehicle parts that would later be matched to the suspect’s vehicle, but no suspect was identified that night, according to police.
In the days that followed, the department’s Major Crimes Division partook in the investigation and canvassed the area, police said, adding that detectives obtained video footage that showed a white pickup truck with a “number of distinctive features” collide with the memorial.
Collaborating with Wallingford police, investigators determined that a vehicle matching the same description was involved in a rollover crash in Wallingford several minutes after the collision with the Meriden memorial, police said.
Wallingford police identified the year and make of the vehicle and reported that Walsh was its driver, Meriden police said, adding that the GMC was towed to a local impound yard after the rollover.
With assistance from the Traffic Crash Reconstruction Team, the Detective Division and the police mechanic, Saleeba obtained a search warrant to perform a mechanical inspection of the GMC, which revealed additional evidence linking the vehicle to the memorial crash, according to police.
A warrant was issued for the arrest of Walsh, who turned himself into police on Monday, April 22, police said.
Police added that Walsh was released after posting a court-set bond of $5,000; he is expected to appear in Meriden Superior Court on May 6. The rollover crash was investigated by Wallingford police.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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