By Frank Juliano
Connecticut Post Online
MILFORD, Conn. — Funeral services for the two 19-year-olds killed when their car collided with a Milford police cruiser early Saturday morning in Orange will be held this week as the crash investigation is believed to be focusing on the vehicles’ speed as a factor in the fatalities.
David Servin and Ashlie Krakowski, both Orange residents, died of multiple blunt traumatic injuries, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner said Monday. She would not say whether toxicology tests were performed as part of the autopsies.
The State Police accident reconstruction team is investigating the crash, which occurred about 3 a.m. Saturday near the intersection of Route 1 and Dogwood Road in Orange.
No new information about the crash investigation would released Monday, said Trooper William Tate, the state police spokesman.
Witnesses reported that Milford Officer Jason Anderson’s cruiser was traveling at a high rate of speed when it crashed into the couple’s car, as they were making a left turn from Route 1 into Dogwood Road. There also appeared to be no skid marks on the road’s surface in the lane in which Anderson was driving.
The initial State Police statement on the accident had said the teens’ car made a “sudden” left turn into the path of Anderson’s cruiser.
Anderson was returning from assisting West Haven police with a call in that city earlier Saturday when his cruiser struck the 2008 Mazda owned by Krakowski’s father, crushing it. A second Milford officer, Richard Pisani, was returning from the same call, driving his cruiser behind Anderson’s. Pisani was not involved in the accident, Tate said.
Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr. said Monday that potential liability for the city “is the farthest thing from our minds at this point. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.’'
A wake for Krakowski will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Cody-White Funeral Home, 107 Broad St. A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Holy Infant Church, 450 Racebrook Road in Orange. Burial will be in Mount St. Peter’s Cemetery in Derby.
The wake for Servin is set from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Cody-White Funeral Home, and a Mass will be conducted at 11 a.m. Friday. Burial will be in Orange Center Cemetery in Orange.
Investigators would not say Monday which of the young people was driving or whether Anderson and Pisani were en route to another call in Milford when the crash occurred.
Servin died at the scene and Krakowski a short time later after being extricated from the car.
Anderson was treated at Yale-New Haven Hospital and released. He remains off-duty injured, Chief Keith Mello said.
Anderson’s Ford Crown Victoria patrol car is a total loss and will be replaced by the city’s insurance carrier, Richetelli said. A second Milford patrol car was totalled recently when it was struck while chasing a suspect fleeing from Bridgeport.
The department has 20 marked patrol cars and three more assigned to supervisors out of a total fleet of 70 vehicles, according to figures provided by Mello. Eight of the vehicles, including seven of the marked cars are out of service, he said, seven because of motor vehicle damage. Two of the vehicles are expected to be restored to service later this week, according to a report from the chief.
Richetelli said that he supported Mello’s request for 10 new police vehicles in the 2009-10 city budget that takes effect July 1, but the Board of Aldermen approved funds to buy only five. “It took us a long time to establish a vehicle replacement program in the city and when you reduce it you are increasing your costs for repairs and eventually for replacement vehicles,’' the mayor said.
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