Warrant offers details of death on Arrigoni Bridge

PORTLAND — Details of the investigation that led to the arrest this week of a suspect in the Nov. 4 hit-and run death of a 23-year-old Middletown man on the Arrigoni Bridge are laid out in a nine-page affidavit compiled by veteran town police officer Paul Liseo.

Liseo studied surveillance videos, used cell tower mapping, and conducted extensive interviews with witnesses to build a case. He relied upon the cooperation of fellow Portland officers, as well as the Middletown Police Department, where he was an officer for 20 years before joining Portland’s force.

The affidavit was submitted to Superior Court in Middletown late last month in support of Liseo’s request for a warrant to arrest Khavar McDonald, 36, of Middletown. The warrant, which charges McDonald with seconddegree manslaughter, as well as five other offenses, was served this week.

Documents describe the alleged actions that led to the death of DaQuan Moore, 23, of Middletown. Moore was riding a moped across the bridge to Portland to see family members when he was struck from behind by a car allegedly driven by McDonald, who worked for a tire company in Middletown.

An autopsy conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined Moore died of blunt force trauma to his head, neck, torso and extremities.

A reconstruction conducted by Liseo and two Middletown police officers determined Moore was dragged 195 feet before the moped was disentangled from the car, an Audi A-4. The analysis estimated the speed of the Audi at the time of the collision to be “between 52 mph to 62 mph.”

In his recitation of the events, Liseo said McDonald, driving the 2001 four-door white vehicle, was racing another car, looking in his rear-view mirror to see whether the driver was gaining on him.

A woman identified in the affidavit as McDonald’s girlfriend, Jacqueline Burchard, in a Nov. 14 interview with Liseo, Portland Detective Dan Knapp, and Burchard’s attorney, Jeffrey Drewniany, recounts what happened next.

“(Burchard) said (McDonald) looks up and looks in the rear view mirror to see how far back the other car was, and, by the time they looked forward, they saw (Moore at the) “last minute. She said (Khavar) swerved over and (Moore) swerved over in front of us. She said they did not see [Moore] as he was in dark clothing.

“She said (McDonald) started screaming and she closed her eyes. She said the scooter swerved to the left lane and they swerved

to the left, too.”

Documents say nothing about the impact when the car struck Moore’s moped. However, Burchard recounted in detail what happened next: They went under the bridge, came back up and crossed the bridge back into Middletown.

McDonald drove Burchard to the McDonald’s restaurant on Washington Street, where she retrieved her car, then followed McDonald to the Maple Self Store-it on South Main Street to drop off the Audi in a storage facility he rents there, court document said.

In the interview with

Liseo, Burchard said neither she nor McDonald had been drinking or doing drugs that night. “They did not talk in the car after the accident. She said they did not talk to each other about the accident that night,” the affidavit said.

Later, she told Liseo she did not know Moore “but had heard of him around town.” Burchard also said she did not take pictures or video with her phone during or after the accident.

A witness on the bridge that night said after the Audi turned around and headed back across the bridge, the driver slowed to observe the accident site, police said.

Two days after the accident, Hartford attorney Gerald Klein contacted prosecutors in Middletown. He told them he represented McDonald, who “would like to turn over a vehicle sought in the fatal accident.”

The car was delivered to Portland police headquarters on Main Street by a man later identified as McDonald’s stepbrother, the report said. Acting with the written consent of Klein, the car was turned over state troopers assigned to the Eastern Region Major Crime Squad Nov. 8.

They concluded the car was the vehicle that struck Moore, according to the warrant affidavit.

Knapp interviewed the owner of the Audi, a New Britain resident who said he sold it to a man fitting McDonald’s description on Nov. 1, the report said. Meanwhile, Liseo obtained videos from the restaurant and storage facility for the dates in question. They backed up what Burchard told police during her interview, he said.

Police also verified McDonald rented three bays at the storage company. Officers then subpoenaed cellphone records of both Burchard and McDonald.

Middletown Detective Jeff Laskowski mapped cell tower information that showed McDonald and Burchard were in contact with one another twice within 22 minutes after the accident, records said.

Throughout his investigation, Liseo appealed to the driver of the second car to come forward to aid in the investigation.

The affidavit noted surveillance cameras captured images of that car turning

around in a Portland Main Street service station and returning to Middletown following the accident.

A New Britain Chrysler dealer reportedly identified the make and model of the car and its approximate dates of manufacture. Police then requested the Department of Motor Vehicles compile a list of all similar cars.

A New Britain resident was identified from that list, and police made several efforts to contact the man, the warrant affidavit said. After some time, he was found at work in Cromwell, but told police he “did not want to get involved,” officers said.

Portland Sgt. James Kelly asked the man to grant police an interview. The suspect allegedly said he would, but, as of the date the affidavit was submitted, he had not done so. Additional efforts to contact the man have been unsuccessful, Liseo said.

“The arrest was no surprise. We expected it,” said Klein, who was hired the day police made the arrest. McDonald has no record, he added.

“Fortunately, the court determined my client was not a risk and released him without bond. It’s a bit different from the average case where police would be hunting for a person.

“It’s not a big whodunittype case. He was driving and somebody was killed. I’ll be speaking to the state’s attorney after receiving the discovery,” said Klein, who added he didn’t think his client’s alleged actions “rose to the level of second-degree homicide, but the state might not agree with me.”

McDonald has returned to work, Klein said.

“He’s not the type of person who would not want to take responsiblity for whatever he did. He hasn’t made a statement to police and hasn’t admitted to anything. He has reasons for why he did not make an immediate stop,” Klein said.

McDonald appeared in Middlesex Superior Court following his arrest Wednesday. He remains free on $100,000 bond and is due back in court May 15.