Senior center repairs delayed

Without full accident report, police can’t file documents with town’s insurance company

WINSTED — Midwinter is not a good time for construction, so a temporary fix to the front entryway at the Winsted Senior Center will have to do for now.

The enclosed entrance was nearly demolished when two vehicles crashed into the building Nov. 3.

The late-night crash involved a car and a van that apparently collided and “the bumpers were hooked together,” Police Chief William T. Fitzgerald Jr. said at the time.

The driver of the car, Jason Rogers, 41, remains hospitalized, Fitzgerald said in an email Tuesday. He was taken to Hartford Hospital by air ambulance with spinal injuries, according to police.

Rogers is in a coma, according to one person who asked not to be named. Pamela Cruz, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said Tuesday that Rogers no longer is a patient there.

Police said Rogers was driving a Lexus on Holabird Avenue, near the intersection of Fruit Street, when his car and a Volkswagen van driven by Thomas Kirkwood, 58, of Winchester collided.

Kirkwood was released from the hospital the day after the accident, according to police. Three passengers in his van, who also were hospitalized, were released within two days, police said.

The names of the passengers were not provided by the Police Department Tuesday.

Because Rogers is severely injured, the accident report remains open, Fitzerald said in an email, because the department needs to interview him .

Without a full report, police have said, they can’t file documents with the town’s insurance

company. The delay means that even interior work at the senior center can’t be completed.

Senior center Director Jennifer Kelley said at the time that she was making calls to vendors to find out the what the cost for repairs would be. She said the work would include electrical wiring, heating,

flooring, roofing, siding, paving and lettering for the center’s exterior sign.

About the delay on repairs, Kelley said Monday “that it’s too cold to do any construction now anyway.”

Leslie Hutchison / Hearst Connecticut Media The front door vestibule of the Winsted Senior Center was demolished in November when two cars collided and crashed into the building.