Police said the car brakes failed and the driver knew the equipment was defective.
A Cheshire woman was charged with criminal negligence in connection with a crash in November that killed a 90-year-old woman.
Wanda Belisle, 90, was struck on Nov. 30 at Willis and South streets in Bristol and died from the injuries sustained in the crash, according to police.
Police said Melissa Maddaloni, 23, of Cheshire, had been traveling north on Willis Street and the brakes on her vehicle failed as she traveled down the steep hill at 66 miles per hour.
She entered the intersection of South Street without stopping for the stop sign and hit a vehicle that Belisle's nephew, Gerard Nadeau, 66, of Terryville, was driving, police said.
Belisle was in the front passenger seat of the car the area she was sitting in was severely crushed from the impact, according to police.
Belisle swam everyday at the Bristol Family Center, and later at the Y in Plainville, according to her obituary.
Nadeau was driving his aunt to Plainville so she could go swimming when the crash happened.
"I never would have thought a car could come out of nowhere," Nadeau said.
He suffered eight broken ribs and a broken shoulder blade in the crash and said he hopes to return to work as a school bus driver next month.
Police said Maddaloni failed to maintain her vehicles’ brakes so they were in good working order, knowingly operated her vehicle with defective equipment and she failed to perceive the risk of traveling down a steep hill without a proper braking system on her vehicle.
At the time of the crash, Maddaloni’s operators’ license was suspended and she should not have been operating her vehicle, police said.
She was booked on the arrest warrant at 9:19 a.m. on Tuesday, released on a court set $50,000surety bond and is scheduled to appear in Bristol Superior Court on Feb. 19.
Maddaloni was charged with manslaughter in the second degree, misconduct with a motor vehicle, operating with a suspended operator’s license, defective brakes and failure to obey a stop sign.
