Brendan Ross ’13 turned himself in for arrest at New Haven Police Department headquarters Friday evening in connection with a U-Haul crash at last November’s Harvard-Yale tailgate that injured two women and killed another.
NHPD officer Rose Dell secured an arrest warrant for Ross, the U-Haul’s driver, and Ross turned himself in after he completed his Yale final exams around 5:50 p.m. Friday. Ross, who is charged with negligent homicide with a motor vehicle and reckless driving, is slated to appear in court Monday. He was released without bond on a written promise to appear in court.
Under state law, the misdemeanor charge of negligent homicide with a motor vehicle carries a maximum penalty of a $2,500 fine and six months imprisonment.
Ross’s arrest comes less than a month after the NHPD completed its forensics investigation into the crash and forwarded the investigation’s results to the state’s attorney’s office. NHPD spokesman David Hartman said the state’s attorney’s office submitted a request for Ross’s arrest warrant “weeks ago” and it was signed by a New Haven judge on May 1.
In the past week, Ross and his New Haven-based attorney, William Dow ’63, contacted the state’s attorney’s office and agreed that Ross would turn himself in as part of the warrant after he completed his last final at Yale, the New Haven Register reported.
Dow and Michael Dearington, Connecticut state’s attorney for the New Haven district, did not immediately return requests for comment Friday evening.
Ross was arrested more than five months after the crash, which occurred the morning of Nov. 19. The U-Haul driven by Ross accelerated and swerved into the Yale Bowl’s D-Lot, killing 30-year old Nancy Barry from Salem, Mass., and injuring Sarah Short SOM ’13 and Harvard employee Elizabeth Dernbach.
Although Ross passed a field sobriety test on the scene, he was taken to NHPD headquarters on Union Avenue for questioning. Immediately following the incident, the NHPD launched a forensics investigation, which concluded in early April.
The NHPD forwarded results of its investigation to the state’s attorney’s office in mid-April for review. Hartman said the investigation’s results are still not available, though they will become public as the attorney’s office lays out its criminal case.
Last month — before the results of the crash investigation were finalized — Short filed a civil suit against Ross and the U-Haul company of Connecticut, claiming that she had sustained several “severe painful and obvious injuries” from the crash. She sued for at least $15,000 — the minimum amount necessary to file a case before the court.