Hartford police have arrested the man who is accused of a hit-and-run that killed a 19-month-old girl after she ran out of a laundromat in Hartford in June.
Police responded to New Britain Avenue just before 11 p.m. on June 3 after several people called 911 and reported that a toddler was hit by a motor vehicle and she was unresponsive in the roadway.
She was rushed to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, where she died, police said.
Investigators determined that the toddler had wandered out of the open door of the laundromat and into the roadway.
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They said the driver who struck her left the scene and the vehicle was found in New Haven the next morning.
Police said of the driver, "He claims that he left work [in New Hartford] and drove directly to New Haven, where he spent the evening with his cousin,” according to court documents. “He explicitly stated during the interview that he, at no point in the evening of 6/3/24, was in Harford, Connecticut.”
Police obtained a warrant charging Melvin Daniels, 30, of Hartford, with manslaughter in the second degree, evading responsibility involving death and illegally tinted windshield.
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According to the arrest warrant, "the vehicle appears as though it is following the normal flow of traffic and obeying traffic control signs and signals. After the impact, the vehicle begins driving erratically, and at a higher rate of speed than it had previously been traveling.”
Daniels turned himself in to Hartford police on Monday and he is being held on a $300,000 bond.
Police said the investigation remains active. Anyone with information is asked to call the Hartford police department Tip Line at 860-722-TIPS (8477).
