Police Reveal Details of Fatal Accident

A year ago today, a tragic took the life of 20-year-old Robert Dunn.

After leaving a party in the woods near , Dunn and several friends were traveling southbound on Route 83 in Ellington in a pick up truck with Dunn at the wheel. According to a police report about that night, Dunn lost control of the truck and crossed over into the northbound lane before swerving back into the southbound lane driving into the wooded area of the southbound shoulder and striking a tree. The truck came to rest in the southbound shoulder.

According to  Patrick Sweeney, Dunn was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident. 

Dunn was pronounced dead at the scene, his two passengers, Kassandra King, 17, from Broad Brook, and James McDermott, 22, from Coventry, suffered serious injuries and were transported to Hartford Hospital via LifeStar helicopter.

After a lengthy investigation, state police determined that Dunn had been drinking at a friend’s house and then he and several friends went to a bonfire in the woods near the airport property, according to Sweeney.

Sweeney said that the report stated that Dunn had consumed enough alcohol throughout the night to have a blood alcohol level of .18 – more than two times the legal limit of .08. However, being a minor, the legal limit for Dunn was .02, making him nine times the legal limit at the time of the crash.

State police concluded that Dunn’s level of intoxication contributed to his inability to safely control the vehicle and was the main factor in the crash, Sweeney said.

No arrests have been made and no citations have been issued as a result of the accident, Sweeney said.

Sweeney said that police did not find any evidence to verify a persistent rumor that Dunn’s vehicle may have been nudged, saying that there was no physical evidence to substantiate that claim. Dunn was reportedly passing another vehicle in a no passing zone, Sweeney said.

In a recent interview, Sweeney also referred to the controversy about who had removed King and McDermott from the truck, noting that Trooper Joseph Strogoff has been honored with a lifesaving award through the and the  from the Rockville Rotary.

Strogoff is definitely credited with helping to remove McDermott from the burning vehicle, but two other men who were at the scene told police and Patch that from the vehicle prior to Strogoff’s arrival. Last year, Eric Dziadul and Justin Newton said they saw the accident and ran to the vehicle to first remove Dunn and then King. While Dziadul stayed with King on the side of the road, Newton returned to the car and assisted Strogoff, who had come upon the scene as part of his routine patrol, with removing McDermott from the truck.

The town of Ellington has a grant that addresses the underage drinking issue. Part of the grant pays for police overtime, and it also provides for a counselor to be in to help students deal with the issue.

In addition, police routinely conduct compliance checks of local establishments - bars, grocery stores, and package stores.