Meriden police have arrested the stepfather of a 6-year-old boy who died after a go-kart crash in April.
The 6-year-old boy, Adrian Warzecha, was driving a homemade go-kart at Kronenberger Park with his 4-year-old brother as a passenger when the vehicle hit a closed gate swing and went underneath it, according to police.
Adrian died after being taken to the hospital. The 4-year-old had no apparent injuries but was taken to Connecticut Children’s to be evaluated.
Police have charged Adrian's stepfather, Steven Stolfi, 30, or Meriden, with two counts of risk of injury to a minor.
“If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t have even built the go-kart if I knew this would be the outcome of it. It haunts me every single day that I built a go-kart and he passed away on it," Stolfi said on Tuesday.
The investigation that led to the arrest began on April 9.
Police responded to the park at 7:41 p.m. after learning about a go-kart crash and serious injuries.
They said Adrian was wearing a helmet but sustained a traumatic head injury and died at Midstate Medical Center.
The office of the chief medical examiner determined that he died of blunt impact injuries and ruled his death an accident.
A witness who had been coaching soccer when the crash happened told police that Stolfi was yelling for the go-kart driver to slow down and ran after it, but the go-kart kept moving at a fast speed, then it went under the gate and the driver hit his head.
The child appeared to be unconscious and the go-kart was still going, according to the warrant.
When it stopped, the witness ran over and started performing CPR until medical crews arrived, according to the warrant. A nurse who was at the park also ran to help and stabilized the little boy’s neck.
As part of the investigation, police seized the go-kart.
They said Stolfi told them that he built the go-kart a year earlier for Adrian’s birthday.
On the day of the crash, they got to the park around 2:30 p.m., planning to ride go-karts, but decided that it wouldn’t be safe because there were too many other vehicles, so they went to a Wayne Lane, a dead-end street, instead.
Then, around 6:30 p.m., they went back to the park because it was not as busy, the warrant says.
Stolfi told police that he told his stepson just before the crash that it was time to go and that he could do one more lap, the warrant states.
The little boy then took off at a high rate of speed and Stolfi said he started running toward the go-kart and yelled for his stepson to slow down before he hit the fence, the warrant says.
Police said the homemade go-kart had several deficiencies.
The body of the toy car used to make the go-kart was designed to go no more than 5 miles per hour, but it was modified to be able to go 28, according to the warrant.
It also says the vehicle did not have a roll cage, protective devices on the outside or seatbelts or harnesses.
Stolfi said they built the go-kart together, following the manufacturer's instructions, and had driven it several times.
"I had driven it multiple times. He had driven it multiple times. It was the first time we took it out for the season, and I had spent an hour and a half going over all the nuts and bolts, making sure everything was tight, nothing was loose," Stolfi said.
He was released on a promise to appear and is due in court in November.
Adrian Warzecha''s mother, Karli Warzecha, said a fun day turned to disaster and it is like a piece of her was ripped away.
“We’re just trying to grieve him and get through the day, get through the hour, nevermind have to worry about now the rest of the three children’s father being ripped from them, my partner being ripped from me,” she said.
