New Haven police officer faces DUI and other felony charges after high-speed crash kills a fellow officer in Las Vegas. Robert Ferraro has been placed on administrative leave.
A New Haven police officer faces felony charges including driving under the influence after an early morning crash killed a fellow officer in Las Vegas on Friday.
Officer Robert Ferraro, who has been placed on administrative leave, appeared in a Las Vegas court Saturday morning. Ferraro, 34, has been charged with reckless driving, driving under the influence of alcohol and/or a controlled substance resulting in death.
Joshua Castellano, a seven-year-veteran of the New Haven Police force, died at a hospital shortly after the 4 a.m. crash. He was 35. The accident remains under investigation.
Ferraro’s bail has been set at $100,000 and he is due back in court on Tuesday, Sept. 21, according to WTNH-TV. Ferraro, of East Haven, has been placed on paid administrative leave while the department conducts its own investigation, acting New Haven Police Chief Renee Dominguez said.
Castellano was a passenger along with two other officers and two women in a Rolls-Royce Cullinan driven by Ferraro that crashed as it entered a Las Vegas intersection traveling at high speed at about 4 a.m., Las Vegas police said. Ferraro was “showing signs of impairment” and arrested at the crash scene.
Castellano was treated at the scene and transported to the hospital, where he died.
The other two other officers, John Truhart of New Haven and Matthew Borges of Bethel, sustained minor injuries, for which they were treated and released. Two women from Texas, who were also passengers, were not seriously injured.
Evidence from the scene, witness statements and videos show the vehicle lost control and crashed into another vehicle that was in a private driveway waiting to enter the street, near the intersection of West Spring Mountain Road and South Decatur Boulevard, according to a police report.
“The Rolls-Royce exited the roadway to the right, colliding with [a] Ford Mustang,” the police report said. “The Rolls-Royce continued westbound … and collided with roadside utility poles, landscaping and a fire hydrant. The Rolls-Royce overturned onto its roof, ejected the right front passenger from the vehicle and up righted itself before coming to rest.”
On Saturday, a shaken police department in New Haven coped with the loss of a popular officer and the arrest of another member of the force.
“It is with an extremely heavy heart that we learned about this yesterday,’' Dominguez said during a morning press conference outside police headquarters.
“The grief and the pain that the men and women of the police department are going through is that of [losing] a brother,” said an emotional Dominguez.
During a Saturday morning press conference, Dominguez remembered Castellano, who was hired by the department in July 2014 and was a member of the department’s shooting task force, as a hard worker who could connect with anyone on the force and on his beat.
“In the academy, you knew that Josh had the thing, the thing that’s not teachable,” said Dominguez, who was Castellano’s first supervisor when she was district manager for the Westville-West Hills district of the city.
“He is the officer who came to work every single day happy to be here,” she said. “He didn’t care what his assignment was; he was happy. He didn’t complain, he did his job with passion, he was compassionate. He was the full package.”
The department has stationed an officer around-the-clock with Castellano’s mother, she added.
“Our biggest concern is the well being of our officers,” she said. “Our officers are under a lot of stress as it is, coupled with working long hours and keeping the citizens of New Haven safe. And now they’re also dealing with the loss of their own.”
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker offered his condolences in a written statement Friday afternoon.
“My thoughts and condolences are with the family of Officer Castellano as well as his friends and colleagues at the New Haven Police Department,” Elicker said. “Officer Castellano served our community for seven years. We’re thankful for Officer Castellano’s service; he will be greatly missed.”
Eliza Fawcett may be reached at elfawcett@courant.com.
