GROTON, Conn. — A New London man is facing charges connected to the fatal firey crash on the Gold Star bridge last year.
Connecticut State Police charged 59-year-old Reginald Collins with negligent homicide with a motor vehicle, driving an unregistered vehicle, driving without insurance, and improper parking on a highway.
The crash on April 21, 2023, killed the driver of a home heating oil tanker on the Groton side of the Gold Star Bridge.
According to the arrest warrant and statements made to police, Collins had just gotten new tires on his Toyota Avalon that day, and he and a passenger were driving on the highway to "test" them.
Collins told state police that he drove northbound on I-95 until Exit 89, took the exit, and went back south. According to the warrant, Collins stated he had gotten onto the bridge when the car's steering felt "funny," and the "car began to jump."
At this time, Collins was in the area of the Bridge Street on-ramp to I-95 south in Groton. Two lanes are adjacent to the three travel lanes of the highway. According to the warrant, Collins went from the right travel lane, crossed into the two lanes from the Bridge Street on-ramp, and stopped in the rightmost lane. He did not stop on the shoulder, according to investigators.
The driver of the truck, Wallace Fauquet III, was driving in the right lane of the Bridge Street on-ramp when it crashed into the back of the Avalon. The arrest warrant said that Fauquet likely could not see the car until it became an "immediate hazard."
Fauquet then attempted to hit the brakes and tried to take "evasive action" by steering to the left. However, the truck's right front collided with the back left-hand side of the Avalon.
The truck then tipped over and rolled, igniting a fire that engulfed that part of the bridge and killed Fauquet who was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders.
According to crash investigators, there had been "no disabling issue" that would have prevented Collins from fully moving his car into the shoulder and out of a lane of traffic.
Investigators said that the cause of the crash was that Collins' Avalon had created a traffic hazard by remaining still in the right-most travel lane and not moving fully over into the shoulder.
During the investigation, police also learned that Collins' car was unregistered and uninsured at the time of the crash and hadn't been for several months.
Collins was charged and held on a $25,000 bond and was seen in court Tuesday.
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Jennifer Glatz is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jglatz@fox61.com.
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