NAUGATUCK — Police have charged a 16-year-old driver in connection with in a car-pedestrian accident on New Haven Road in December.
The 16-year-old was charged with traveling at unreasonable speed and position of alcohol by a minor. The incident resulted in serious leg injuries to a female truck driver.
Sarifa Sara-Sanchez, 30, of New Jersey, had just finished a car delivery to J&M Automotive and was standing outside her parked tractor trailer at 8:23 a.m. when the juvenile driver, heading southbound on New Haven Road (Route 63), hit her and spun out of control.
Sara-Sanchez was released from the hospital and returned home to New Jersey, according to Lt. Robert Harrison of the Naugatuck Police Department.
The alcohol charge was unrelated to the accident, Harrison said. He said the minor was not drinking at the time, but police found a bottle of alcohol in his car.
The investigation concluded that sun glare was a major factor in the accident, according to Harrison.
Although the driver wasn’t speeding, he was still traveling too fast for the conditions at the time, Harrison said.
Traveling at an unreasonable speed is normally a mail-in infraction, but police included it on the same arrest warrant as the alcohol charge, Harrison said.
The juvenile was released on a $2,500 non-surety bond and given a court date of June 29 to appear at Waterbury Superior Court, according to police.
