Allison and Jason Charbonneau say they were shocked when after being the first people to arrive on the scene of a horrible motor vehicle accident on October 29, 2010, Windsor Locks police never asked them what they witnessed.
The Monday following the accident she called the Connecticut State Police tipline and left a message saying she and her husband had come upon the accident scene.
“The town police didn’t want my statement so there was no need to contact them,” Allison Charbonneau testified in Hartford Superior Court Tuesaday.
The second day of testimony in the trial of former Windsor Locks Police Sgt. Robert Koistinen began. Koistinen, 55, is accused of interfering with the investigation of the accident in which his son, Michael, an off-duty Windsor Locks police officer at the time, was convicted of striking 15-year-old Henry Dang with his car as the teen rode his bicycle at the intersection of Spring and West streets on Oct. 29, 2010.
Michael Koistinen pleaded no contest to second-degree manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence on June 12. He was sentenced on August 27 to five years and four months in prison.
Robert Koistinen is charged with third-degree hindering prosecution.
The prosecution’s witnesses again detailed events surrounding that night and early morning. The Charbonneaus both testified Tuesday morning said after they’d been at the accident scene for about 10 minutes, an officer told them he’d clear a way for them to go around.
“I thought it was odd that we would be driving through the accident scene,” Jason Charbonneau said. “It was rather odd.”
They said the officer who guided them through the accident scene was a tall man who had arrived on the scene in a SUV. Earlier testimony on Monday indicated that as shift supervisor that night Robert Koistinen was driving a SUV.
Allison Charbonneau said as they headed east on Spring Street they saw car parts along the road and then drove around Dang’s body in the middle of the intersection. She would find out later that the body was that of a friend of her son, Charbonneau testified.
As they passed through the intersection, they “pulled over to the side of the road with my husband because we were in shock and had a break down,” she said.
Under cross examination from Attorney Elliot Spector, the couple said they didn't see the actual accident and that they didn't offer Windsor Locks police any information. Both said the police never asked them.
Allison Charbonneau said that she typed her recollection of what happened later on Saturday because it was fresh in her mind. She gave that information to a state police investigator on the following Monday, she said.
One of the members of the North Central Municipal Accident Reconstruction Squad, which was called to investigate the accident on October 30, 2010, Officer Jeremiah Dowd of the Granby Police Department testified about what the team did that day.
Dowd testified that he was unable to speak to Michael Koistinen when he went to Johnson Memorial Hospital. He said he was told that the Koistinens wanted to consult with an attorney before Michael spoke with investigators.
Dowd said Koistinen was undergoing a medical test at the time and he spoke to Robert Koistinen.
On cross examination, Spector asked Dowd if Robert Koistinen told him he couldn’t speak to Michael Kositinen.
“Not in those specific words,” Dowd said.
Spector later asked Dowd if there was anything preventing him that day from speaking to Michael Koistinen.
“I guess I could have waited,” Dowd said. “I didn’t believe I was going to be allowed that opportunity.”
Testimony resumes on Wednesday.
