Police Identify Victims of Sunday's Fatal Accident

State police identified the victims of the fatal accident on White Turkey Ext. Sunday night when a sedan fleeing from police crashed into the victims’ Jeep.

The Jeep’s driver, 44-year-old Angel Eduardo Criollo, of Washington, Conn., was killed in the accident. The passenger, 42-year-old Rosa Ayabaca, of the same address in Washington, was taken to Danbury Hospital with head and chest injuries.


The accident occurred around 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 18, when an Acura TL being driven by 25-year-old Eric Sciarretta, of Waterbury, fled the scene of a seat belt safety check on an 84 on-ramp in Danbury. Sciarretta attempted to escape the pursuing state troopers on Route 7 north into Brookfield, then taking exit 11.

Troopers called off the chase when Sciarretta took the exit, however an officer continued down the off-ramp, where he saw the wreckage of the crash.

Whether to pursue a suspect in a vehicle and how long the chase should go on are determined by the pursuing officer and their immediate superiors, State police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance said Wednesday.

“They take into consideration road conditions, weather, traffic — all the obvious things,” he said. “And certainly we don’t want to endanger the public.”

Vance declined to go into further detail about the series of events that ended with the fatal accident, as the investigation is ongoing.

Sciarretta was arraigned in Danbury Superior Court on a litany of charges, including felony manslaughter, felony assault in the first degree and engaging police in a pursuit.

Sciarretta also faces charges of reckless drive, operating an unregistered vehicle and failure to insure vehicle, as well as failure to wear a seat belt.

He is being held on $300,000 bond pending a court date on Sept. 11.