A woman who was injured in a boating accident on Candlewood Lake in New Fairfield Tuesday has died, according to officials from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and the boater who is accused of hitting her and fleeing the scene has been arrested.
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection officials said they were called to search for a missing person in the water at Candlewood Lake around 2:15 p.m. When DEEP crews arrived. the woman had been pulled from the water by a Good Samaritan and she was taken to Danbury Hospital with serious injuries.
DEEP has identified the woman as 38-year-old Wanda Tirado, of Waterbury and said she was pronounced dead at Danbury Hospital at 11:15 a.m. Tirado was a swimmer from the involved vessel, according to DEEP.
DEEP officials said that during the investigation state Environmental Conservation police determined a vessel had left the scene. That boater, identified as 65-year-old Gary Morrone of Oakville, was arrested.
Morrone was charged with reckless operating of a vessel, failure to help a collision victim, and failure to immediately notify law enforcement of injury. He was released on a $10,000 bond and is due in court on July 3.
State EnCon Police’s Boating Accident Investigation Unit is investigating.
The Chief Medical Examiner will perform an autopsy.
