Investigators have finished their report on the July 23 car vs. person collision that claimed the life of a beloved, longtime Department of Public Works employee, and are calling it a tragic accident, New Canaan’s police chief said.
A reconstruction map showing the place where Ben Olmstead was struck by a motor vehicle, at the intersection of 123 and East Avenue, on July 23, 2014. Courtesy of the New Canaan Police Department
Ben Olmstead, 71, at about 11:15 a.m. that Wednesday was striping East Avenue with spray paint for a sewer hookup to a residence—“something he did tens of thousands of times over the course of his career,” Chief Leon Krolikowski said during a press briefing Thursday at the New Canaan Police Department—when a motorist traveling north on Route 123 turned left and struck him.
The motorist—a 60-year-old Norwalk man who stopped his truck immediately and was very distressed by the accident—had been traveling just 5 to 10 mph, was not distracted and did not see the kneeling Olmstead in the road, Krolikowski said.
Neither man had any alcohol or drugs in his system that would have contributed to the accident, and an inspection of the vehicle revealed no contributing problems, the chief said. The Norwalk man was not ticketed.
“Several witnesses reported that just prior to the accident, they saw Mr. Olmstead in the road and some commented that they did not believe it was safe where he was,” Krolikowski said. Olmstead’s white work van had been parked on Silvermine Road, on the other side of Route 123, and though it was properly marked off, no safety precautions were taken by the DPW worker himself on East Avenue other than wearing a reflective vest, the chief said.
The town, including dozens of its workers, attended a moving funeral service in Norwalk for Olmstead, an extraordinarily popular figure who had a knack for connecting with others.
“This was an extremely personal situation and they handled it and all our town employees handled it with the utmost respect and responsibility,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said during the briefing. “It was an extremely personal and tough experience to go through.”
Krolikowski echoed Mallozzi’s sentiment and thanked Wilton Police for assisting in the investigation, which included use of that department’s mapping software.
“It was tragic,” Krolikowski said. “He was a 37-year employee who served the town exceptionally well, a dedicated, hard-working guy who is sorely missed by the town.”