MAN CHARGED WITH MANSLAUGHTER IN MARCH 2017 CRASH

Groton — State police on Tuesday arrested Valery Labossiere on manslaughter charges in the March 30, 2017, crash that killed Deion Anthony Pittman.

Labossiere, a 28-year-old resident of Medford, Mass., has been charged with first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, speeding, failure to drive in the proper lane on a multiple-lane highway and failure to obey traffic control signals, according to the state police criminal information summary.

With this arrest, the investigation of the fatal collision is closed. Labossiere is awaiting disposition and is scheduled to appear in court on May 4.

For the first-degree manslaughter charge, his bond was set at $300,000.

After clocking Labossiere traveling 97 miles per hour on the Gold Star Bridge on March 30, 2017, state police attempted a traffic stop but Labossiere sped up. Police said he traveled through a red light and hit the side of a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse that had just exited the Walmart parking lot in Groton.

The driver of the Eclipse sustained minor injuries, but her passenger — Pittman, who was 22 at the time — died at Hartford Hospital.

Police said they found the car that Labossiere had been driving at the time was a stolen one and previously charged him with first-degree larceny, sixth-degree larceny, reckless driving, disobeying the signal of an officer, engaging police in pursuit and driving without a license.

Following the collision, the Eclipse rotated about 451 degrees and hit a concrete block retaining wall, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. The state police trooper who was pursuing Labossiere found Pittman in the vehicle unconscious