The Judiciary Committee today approved legislation that was provoked by last year’s death of a Norwalk jogger who was struck by an SUV driven by a distracted New Canaan High School athlete. The bill heads to the Senate.
The bill would allow police to seek up to $1,000 in additional fines, above and beyond any criminal penalties and charges. The legislation is aimed at protecting so-called vulnerable users of state roads, from joggers to transportation workers, bicyclists and horse-back riders.
The proposal was filed in response to the Saturday, 24, 2012 death of Kenneth Dorsey, 44, who was jogging in Norwalk when an SUV operated by 16-year-old Brianna McEwan, a multi-sport athlete at New Canaan High struck him. She was using a handheld electronic device to check the high school website at the time her vehicle struck Dorsey. She was charged with negligent homicide, but pleaded guilty last October to a lesser crime and received a suspended prison sentence in state Superior Court.