Police have arrested a man suspected in an October hit-and-run that killed a motorcyclist and said a discarded tea cup helped lead them to the suspect.
Roger Sullivan Jr., 22, of New Haven, has been charged in connection with crash at 2:05 a.m. on Oct. 8 at Whalley and Osborn avenues that killed 31-year-old Garry Gulledge, of Oakville.
Police said they saw Gulledge doing motorcycle tricks just before the bike and a car collided.
Gulledge was taken to the hospital and died from his injuries, police said. The cause of death was blunt impact injuries of the neck and torso, officials said.
Witnesses reported that Gulledge was thrown, the bike was in the road and a silver SUV fled on Osborn, toward Blake Street at a high rate of speed.
Police at the scene found a plastic rocker-panel, marked Honda, in the road as well as a discarded McDonald’s cup and barbeque sauce container.
The next day, officers took the rocker panel to a Honda dealership in Branford and determined it came from a 2003 to 2007 Acura MDX.
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Police also headed to McDonalds in the 1,000 block of Whalley Avenue to see if there was surveillance video of a car matching the description and said the driver paid with a credit card and bought items, including a large sweet tea and barbeque sauce.
The credit cardholder told police she was the passenger in a gray Acura her boyfriend was driving, police said.
On their way home, the woman said she was looking through the bag when she felt a bump and the tea went out the open window, police said.
She said she didn’t know anything of a collision, but confronted her boyfriend after seeing a news report days later about the crash, which included a surveillance photo and they planned to go to police that day.
On the same day, police interviewed Sullivan and his account was consistent with his girlfriend’s, according to police.
He said he felt a thump and didn’t know he’d collided with the motorcyclist, but later admitted he knew the crash was significant but panicked and took off, police said. He maintained he did not see what it was he’d hit.
Police said they determined the motorcycle was going around 47 miles per hour at the time of the crash and they believe Gulledge tried to avoid the crash, laid down the bike and was thrown from it.
Sullivan was arrested and charged with felony evading, negligent homicide and making an improper turn.
