The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Man charged in fatal hit-and-run
Police say Haddam man was food delivery driver on the job
MIDDLETOWN >> Middletown police have arrested a 47-year-old Haddam man in connection with a fatal hit-and-run collision last year.
Charles Leroy Demoranville, of Saybrook Road, turned himself in to police Tuesday morning after learning of a warrant for his arrest, police said in a release. He is charged with negligent homicide with a motor vehicle and evading responsibility.
The charges stem from the hitand-run crash on March 31, 2016, that killed 61-year-old Barbara Eddinger outside her home on Chamberlain Road.
The investigation into the incident revealed that Demoranville was a delivery driver for a Chinese restaurant in Middletown and struck Eddinger while delivering food to a home in the area, police said.
Fortune Garden owner Annie Yang said Tuesday that Demoranville no longer works at the 340 E. Main St. restaurant.
“I don’t think he did do that because that day he was working for me and at that time, he was out on George Street. I don’t think anything happened,” Yang said, indi-
cating the distance between George Street, which runs between Route 66/Washington Street and Boston Road, and Chamberlain Road, which is 6.6 miles southeast, near the Haddam line.
The well-known city resident, owner of Buds & Blossoms greenhouses and coowner of Stone Post Gardens was killed while placing a letter in her mailbox. Police at the time said the suspect’s vehicle crossed the center line, struck her and fled the scene.
Friends said Eddinger, who was the longtime director of education at Grace Lutheran Church in Middletown, shared generously as a musician, master gardener, educator, community and church volunteer.
Last April, officials said they had a “vehicle of interest” in custody.
Demoranville was initially held in lieu of $750,000 bail. At his arraignment in Middletown court Tuesday, the judge ordered a $50,000 cash-only bond, which Demoranville did not post. His case was continued to May 16.