Victim ID’d in fatal hit-and-run

HARTFORD — A 49-year-old Hartford woman was the victim of the fatal hit-andrun in Frog Hollow last week, police said.

Madeline Feliciano of Hudson Street was in a wheelchair when she and another pedestrian were struck by an Acura MDX SUV at Park and Washington streets at about 1:40 a.m. on Oct. 1, according to Hartford police Lt. Paul Cicero.

The other pedestrian was a 59-year-old man who lives at the same address as Feliciano, 525 Hudson St., according to Cicero. That is the Hudson View Commons, an affordable housing building owned by Chrysalis Center.

“Our staff is working with the residents that are living in the building to help them deal with the stress and the trauma of losing a fellow resident,” said Adria Giordano, the center’s development and communications director.

State police pulled over the fleeing vehicle on I-84 and arrested the driver, 34-year-old Raquel Vasquez of New Britain.

She was charged with operating under the influence, evading responsibility resulting in injury and death, second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and operating an unregistered motor vehicle.

Feliciano is the second person killed in a hit-and-run in Hartford this year, according to police.

Luis Daniel Rodriguez, 44, of New Britain, was riding his bicycle on Wethersfield Avenue when he was struck and killed by an evading driver in a vehicle that was later reported stolen.

No arrest has been made.

In the first seven months of this year, Hartford police reported 595 incidents of drivers striking a moving vehicle or a person and leaving the scene, compared to 708 last year and a five-year average of 572, according to statewide crash data maintained by UConn.

As of July 31, there had been 154 hit-andruns resulting in possible injuries, compared to 169 crashes last year and a five-year average of 130, according to the Connecticut Crash Data Repository.