The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Hit-and-run driver gets 5.5 years in prison
Collision seriously injured lieutenant governor’s brother
NEW HAVEN —A Branford man was sentenced to more than 5 years in prison Thursday for a hit-and-run that seriously injured the lieutenant governor’s brother in 2022.
R. Neal Stom was sentenced to 66 months in prison, followed by three years of probation, with the possibility of serving up to 13 years if he fails to comply with the terms of his release.
Stom, 32, previously pleaded guilty to seconddegree assault and evading responsibility resulting in serious physical injury. He is free on a $100,000 bond and was sentenced in state Superior Court in New Haven Thursday.
The incident occurred in Guilford on the afternoon of Nov. 12, 2022, on Route 146, or Leetes Island Road.
Stom was driving in the westbound lane when he crossed over the center line and into the eastbound lane, hitting bicyclist John Bysiewicz, the brother of Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, according to a Guilford police report.
Stom fled in his black 2018 Honda Accord Spot, leaving Bysiewicz seriously injured, police said.
A driver stopped and found Bysiewicz after seeing pieces of a bicycle and other debris on the road. Guilford Police Chief Warren “Butch” Hyatt said this good Samaritan “was probably instrumental in saving the person’s life.”
Police received information that Stom may have been involved in the collision and later found him at his home in Branford. He was charged that day, court records indicate.
Before the crash, Bysiewicz was an avid runner and cyclist.
He since has been on a long road of recovery. He had to get his left leg amputated below his knee and, in the beginning of 2023, was learning to walk using a prosthetic leg.