The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘Permanent, terrible damage’
Woman at fault in 2016 fatal accident sent to prison
TORRINGTON — A Litchfield woman who pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other charges in connection with an October 2016 accident that killed a Harwinton woman and injured five others, was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison.
Elizabeth Waterbury pleaded guilty in 2017 at Superior Court in Torrington to manslaughter, two count of assault with a motor vehicle and drunken driving, records show. Her prison sentence will be suspended after she serves 9 years and she also must serve five years of probation.
The manslaughter
victim, Aislinn M. Kern, 33, of Harwinton, was the mother of three girls, her mother told the court.
Donna England of Ohio, said Kern was her first born. “She made me a grandmother.”
England added that “If there is a small measure of peace it’s that (Waterbury) pleaded guilty. So many have PTSD from the crash.”
Dan DePaolo, 43, of Harwinton, who lost his lower left leg in the accident, said prosecutors told the victims that the sentence was the best they could get.
In his victim’s statement in the courtroom, DePaolo said “I am an amputee and I will never be the person I was. Nothing I do now is is the same, it is more difficult to live every day.”
“When I woke up, I was missing a part of my body,” DePaolo said. “I thought I wouldn’t be strong.” He added however, that he can be.
“When I was laying on the side of the road,” after the accident, DePaolo said his first thought was about his son. “He was going to go with me,” that day.
Waterbury remained silent during the proceedings, even when asked directly by the judge if she wanted to respond to the sentencing ruling he had just read aloud in court.
Torrington Superior Court Judge Paul Mastasavage then insisted that the defendant respond to the question of whether she understood the sentence.
“I do your honor,” Waterbury responded.
Waterbury, who was driving a Ford Escape, swerved into the southbound lane while traveling north on North Street, also called Route 63, in Litchfield, the arrest warrant noted.
Her SUV struck a group of 18 motorcycle riders, including DePaolo, who were traveling in the other direction.
Kern’s sister, Sarah LaPorta, who was in New Jersey at the time of the accident, told the court that “the defendant has shown she can’t make good choices. The state has failed by allowing her to continue (to drive).”
State’s Attorney David Shepack noted that Waterbury had two prior DUI arrests, one in Connecticut and one in New York. He added that despite counseling for alcohol abuse and other treatment programs, she was “drunk at the time of the arrest.”
“This is an extraordinarily serious case,” Shepack added, “you tried to conceal evidence.”
Court records show police found that Waterbury had hidden three full bottles of wine, and a prescription bottle for lorazepam — a sedative — under some bushes on the shoulder of North Street after the accident, according to the warrant affidavit.
“I pray no one will ever run into an Elizabeth Waterbury,” said Elizabeth LaPorta, who said she was the second youngest sister in Aislinn Kern’s family. LaPorta said the defendant took “two years to come to the conclusion that she killed someone. She should have been locked up sooner.”
Waterbury told police that a motorcycle had entered her lane, causing her to swerve into the southbound lane, according to the affidavit.
Surveillance camera footage, however, from the Forman School, showed that Waterbury “barely tapped on the brakes prior to impact” with the group of motorcyclists, according to the warrant affidavit.
One of the motorcyclists told police that he saw a silver SUV “completely in the southbound lane with both tires were over the yellow line” before the crash. Another witness said Waterbury appeared to be “reaching down for something” without her eyes on the road, according to the warrant affidavit.
“You are responsible for causing profound, lifechanging injuries. Permanent, terrible damage has been done to,” the victims and their families, Mastasavage told Waterbury.
The judge said she will have her driver’s license permanently suspended.
“She better get help,” said Norman Lajoie, a member of one of three regional motorcycle clubs that attended the sentencing hearing to support DePaolo.
“I’m still riding, but not as much as I used to,” DePaolo said.