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Conn. Chief Wants To Fire Officer In Fatal Crash With Teens

MILFORD, Conn. — Police Chief Keith Mello wants to fire the officer who accidentally killed two Orange teens in June when his cruiser broadsided their car on the Boston Post Road.

The Police Commission will review Mello’s recommendation to terminate Officer Jason Anderson, a five-year member of the force, at its Monday night meeting, according to the agenda.

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The latest development in the tragic saga of the June 13 Orange crash comes on the heels of the revelation that the teens had been drinking that fatal night, and both apparently had blood-alcohol levels above the legal limit at the time of the accident.

A State Police investigation found Anderson was driving 94 miles per hour when he crashed into the teens, who were traveling in the opposite direction and attempted a left-hand turn onto Dogwood Road in front of his cruiser at roughly 2 a.m.

The officer is charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter and is free on $250,000 bond while his case is pending in Milford Superior Court. He has been on paid suspension since the crash.

Quoting unnamed sources, the New Haven Register reported Thursday toxicology results show both Ashlie Krakowski and David Servin, who was driving, had blood-alcohol levels of 0.13. Both were 19 years old, but the legal blood-alcohol limit for adults is 0.08. Those figures could not be confirmed.

Krakowski and Servin, who were dating, attended a party in Milford a few hours before the crash, where witnesses reported they were “tipsy” and said they had been playing beer pong.

The party’s host, 21-year-old Jaycen Munro, of Heenan Drive in Milford, was charged by State Police last month with providing alcohol to minors.

Sources have also said police found marijuana in the teens’ car.

Anderson’s New Haven lawyer, Hugh F. Keefe, declined Thursday to comment on the toxicology reports. He said there is a court order preventing their public release.

Jeffrey Meyer, a criminal law professor at Quinnipiac University’s School of Law, said even if the teens were considered drunk under the legal standard, it will likely not decrease Anderson’s culpability in the case.

“It does not appear to be a game-changer,” said Meyer, who had been a federal prosecutor for a decade.