Norwich man charged in fatal Griswold hit-and-run crash
Sep. 29—A 34-year-old Norwich man who has spent a good amount of his adult life in courthouses, lock-ups and prison cells ― including for torching a municipal building nearly 20 years ago ― is now charged with fatally striking a pedestrian in Griswold and leaving the crash scene.
Curt Rivard, of 37 Bentley Ave., was charged on Sept. 22 with evading responsibility resulting in death and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed 50-year-old Kandi Fortuna.
State troopers out of Troop E in Montville at approximately 7:50 p.m. responded to the intersection of Route 12 and Green Avenue for a report of a motor vehicle accident involving a pedestrian, according to a criminal information summary.
Police said they determined the suspect's vehicle was a Subaru WRX with damage to its front passenger side, including a broken taillight.
About two hours later, a Stonington police officer observed a Subaru WRX with damage consistent with the suspect's vehicle.
Police said the driver, identified as Rivard, showed signs of being impaired and failed a field sobriety test. Rivard was arraigned Monday in Norwich Superior Court. He is being held on a $500,000 bond and is due back in court on Nov. 2.
State police said more charges are expected in the case.
Rivard at age 18 was sentenced to six years in prison in 2007 after pleading guilty to setting the former Town Hall building in Jewett City on fire and vandalizing a nearby flea market a year earlier. A volunteer firefighter who fell at the fire scene suffered fractured vertebrae and ribs.
Rivard's time in prison did not go smoothly, according to an arrest warrant affidavit that documented the 137 disciplinary tickets he received ― several for assaulting state Department of Correction staff ― before his 2013 release.
Rivard was on probation at the time of the fatal crash after being found guilty in December of disorderly conduct stemming from an incident in Groton, judicial records show.
He has numerous other recent convictions in several judicial jurisdictions, including Danielson, Norwich and New London, for crimes ranging from threatening, breach of peace, interfering with an officer and weapon possession.
