Gov. M. Jodi Rell is rethinking her proposal to extend drinking hours at the state's two casinos, after a college student was killed in a crash with an alleged drunken driver on Interstate-395 in Montville on Saturday. The driver had been drinking at a Connecticut casino, a police sergeant told the Day of New London.
State law allows people to drink until 1 a.m. during the week at casinos and Rell had proposed removing that limit, so you could guzzle 24 hours a day, all week long.
That was until a driver believed to be drunk slammed into the van carrying Elizabeth Durante, 20, of West Islip, N.Y. The Connecticut College student was headed to Africa on a humanitarian mission.
Police have charged Daniel Musser, a sailor from the Groton submarine base, with manslaughter and drunken driving. A state police sergeant told the Day of New London that Musser had been drinking at the Mohegan Sun casino before getting into his car.
He appeared in court Monday and bond was set at $300,000. He is due back in court on March 23.
The crash happened on I-395 in Montville, just one exit away from Mohegan Sun Casino.
Rell's plan would have raised millions of dollars for the casinos. Rell says the student's death is a tragedy and she's rethinking the plans to extend the drinking hours.
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Bernard McLoughlin, Connecticut's chairperson for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said 101 people were killed by drunken drivers in the state in 2007. He backs Rell's change of heart, saying the alternative could lead to more deaths.
"I think we're going to put a lot more people on the roads who are intoxicated if we're going to open up the law in the casinos to (allow drinking) 24 hours a day," said McLoughlin.
