The chief operating officer for the city of Hartford said she, rather than her fiance, should have been driving her city-issued vehicle early Saturday morning, but she was concerned after receiving a call from police about one of her sons.
Police said they arrested one of Saundra Kee Borges' son at 10 p.m. Friday night on charges of disorderly conduct, possession of marijuana and threatening.
Borges had gone to the police station and she and her fiance were on their way back around 2:15 a.m. when a man driving a 2004 GMC Yukon ran a red light at Asylum Avenue and Cogswell Street, struck the city-owned vehicle and fled, police said.
Borges was in the passenger seat of her vehicle and her fiancé, Terry Waller, was driving, according to police.
Borges released a statement on Monday saying she had been attending the NAACP dinner on Friday night when she received a call from Hartford Police about her son.
“I left immediately and drove to the Public Safety Complex on High Street in my city vehicle of which I have full commuter privileges. An accident occurred as I was on my way home from the police station with my fiancé Terry Waller, a Deputy Fire Chief for the City of Hartford just after 2:00am. While driving through a green light, another vehicle struck us and then fled the scene,” Borges said in a statement.
Waller, a captain in Hartford’s city's fire department, was transported to Saint Francis Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Borges, was also treated for non-life threatening injuries.
“Terry and I were taken to the hospital, where he remained until late Saturday morning. Thankfully we’re both OK and the police captured the individual responsible for the hit and run,” she said.
Police have identified the driver of the Yukon as Edwin Rodriguez, 30, and arrested him at his home at 173 Albany Avenue in Hartford.
Rodriguez, who has a record of nine previous arrests in Hartford and had an outstanding warrant,
told police that he left the scene to "use the bathroom."
“I want to thank the Hartford Police and Fire Department, the ambulance crew for their quick action and I want to thank the staff at St. Francis for treating us with such care. I also want to apologize to Mayor Segarra for any inconvenience or speculation this incident may have caused. Although Terry is a city employee, I should have driven myself. At that moment, I was deeply concerned for my child as any parent would be,” Borges said.
The accident happened about a week after Mayor Pedro Segarra cut the number of city take-home cars from 73 to 45. Most of those cuts came from the Hartford Police Department.
Last month, the Mayor's former Chief of Staff was arrested for taking his city issued car home without permission after resigning.
At the beginning of the month, Rhonda Moniz-Carroll, the Deputy Director of Hartford's Public Works Department, was fired after police arrested her for allegedly driving drunk in her take home car and crashing.
Borges’ son is due in court October 3.
