Ex-Manchester man admits felony in 2020 fatal motorcycle crash
Dec. 15—A former Manchester man has pleaded guilty to a felony and faces a likely three-year prison sentence for a June 2020 accident in which he hit and killed a pedestrian with a motorcycle in Hartford.
Jeremy E. Valenzuela, 28, who once lived on Oak Street in Manchester but most recently listed a Waterbury address, pleaded guilty Monday in Hartford Superior Court to misconduct with a motor vehicle, court records show.
In addition to the three-year prison term, his sentence is likely to include 729 days — almost two years — of strict special parole, according to a note in the court file.
Valenzuela will get sentence credit for the time he has spent in jail since early February 2021, according to the note.
But he won't get credit for all of the time since then because he was free for some of it. He posted $100,000 in bond in early August and was released from jail, then missed a required court appearance in September and was rearrested in late November, court records show.
The accident occurred near the intersection of Main and Seyms streets in Hartford and was reported after 6 p.m. June 7, 2020, according to an affidavit by Hartford police Detective Eric R. Lemke.
The pedestrian killed in the crash was Reginald L. Greene, 60, formerly of Orange.
Valenzuela had a suspended driver's license and the motorcycle was unregistered, the detective reported.
Parts of the incident — but not the crash — were captured on surveillance video.
The detective reported that "time-distance calculations" showed the motorcycle was going at least 80 mph when it passed Florence Street, about 200 feet before the crash. Later, with no driver on board, the bike was going at least 45 mph before hitting a metal utility pole.
Valenzuela suffered injuries to his face, head, and extremities and was treated at Hartford Hospital. The detective reported that he stood within 2 feet of Valenzuela's head and smelled no alcoholic beverage odor.
In a subsequent written, sworn statement given with his lawyer present, Valenzuela estimated that he was going 30 to 35 mph and acknowledged seeing "the guy running across the road."
Valenzuela said he blinked, held the clutch, and "tried to make a movement to avoid the guy." The next thing he knew, he said, he was lying on the ground. He said he didn't remember the impact.
Valenzuela's record includes a 2011 arrest based on accusations that he had sex with an 11-year-old girl in Manchester when he was 16. He did well at a Massachusetts school for young people with sexual behavior problems and was ultimately convicted in a plea bargain of a reduced charge of fourth-degree sexual assault.
He received a one-year prison sentence, followed by probation.
But he subsequently stole a car and received a four-year prison sentence.
He is facing several cases in Superior Court in New Britain and Waterbury, online court records show.
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