Police identify teen struck, killed on Route 8

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Part of the southbound lane on Route 8 is shut down in Naugatuck on Dec. 22 after a pedestrian was hit and killed on the highway near Exit 27. -CHRISTOPHER MASSA/REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

NAUGATUCK — State police identified the pedestrian struck and killed on Route 8 last week as 14-year-old Michael Shore of Southington.

Shore was killed Dec. 22 when he was struck twice by two different vehicles traveling on Route 8 north and south near Exit 27 at about 5:30 p.m., according to state police.

He was first hit by a Dodge van on Route 8 north driven by 34-year-old Jonathan Lesser of Burlington, state police said. Shore was thrown onto the southbound side of Route 8 where he was struck by Jeep driven by Mia Ortega, 35, of Bridgeport, state police said.

Shore was pronounced dead at the scene. Neither Lesser nor Ortega sustained any injuries, state police said.

About 15 minutes before the accident, Naugatuck police responded to a report of a juvenile who ran out of a parked car on Church Street, Naugatuck police spokesman Lt. Bryan Cammarata. As Naugatuck officers were beginning their search for the juvenile they received the call about the accident on Route 8, he said. Officers discovered that Shore was the juvenile they were looking for downtown.

Cammarata said the events that preceded Shore running out of the car are not under investigation. He said Shore, who had a developmental disorder, was in foster care and with his foster family at the time.

It’s unclear whether Shore had been placed in foster care in Naugatuck. Connecticut Department of Family and Children spokesman Gary Kleeblatt said the department doesn’t release information on children in foster care and couldn’t confirm whether Shore was in foster care.

State police are still investigating the accident. Anyone with information is asked to contact State Police Troop I in Bethany at 203-393-4200.