Man charged in hit-and-run crash that killed Fairfield pedestrian

An Easton man has been arrested and charged after a fatal hit-and-run crash left a Pennsylvania woman dead on the Fourth of July in Fairfield.

Declan P. Kot, 22, was arrested Wednesday night and charged with seven offenses, including felony misconduct with a motor vehicle, after leaving the scene of the crash that killed 32-year-old Marileidy Morel Araujo on Saturday night.

Morel Araujo was visiting family in Fairfield from her home in Matamoras, Pennsylvania, over the holiday weekend, police said. She was walking her dog at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday along Redding Road when she was hit by a car that then fled.

Two passing drivers saw her in the road and alerted police, who responded to the scene and discovered Morel Araujo.

Police immediately called on the public to help with their investigation and quickly received hundreds of tips and valuable resident-submitted video, Chief Christopher Lyddy said.

Fairfield detectives canvassed the neighborhood along Redding Road and found residents who were able to provide video of the road around the time of the crash, revealing a white Dodge Ram pickup truck with black rims fleeing the scene with a large U.S. flag flying from a pole attached to its rear two hitch, police said.

Debris recovered from the scene was taken to a local dealership, where staff guessed it came from a Dodge Ram 2500 or 3500, model years 2010 to 2016, police said. Detectives also believed the passenger side of the truck likely would be missing the lower plastic portion of the mirror and the corner light.

Police obtained video of the same vehicle in other areas throughout the day, which detectives used to identify the exact vehicle and suspected driver, police said.

Patrol officers finally spotted a Dodge Ram matching the description and pulled it over on North Benson Road, where they identified Kot as the driver and took him to police headquarters for an interview, police said.

Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Kot based on that interview and arrested him Wednesday night, Lyddy said.

Kot was released after posting $150,000 bond under the condition he not operate any vehicle before his arraignment July 15 in Bridgeport Superior Court, police said.

The crash remains under investigation and anyone with information or additional, relevant surveillance video is asked to contact Crash Reconstruction Supervisor Sgt. Michael Paris at mparis@fairfieldct.org or 203-254-4862.

Zach Murdock can be reached at zmurdock@ courant.com.