Newtown Teen Killed In Crash

By John Voket

A single-vehicle crash took the life of a local teen, who reportedly returned home from college last weekend to see his younger brother play in a Newtown High School football game. According to police, Justin B. Potter of Newtown was the sole occupant of a vehicle that was traveling westbound on the Brookfield side of Obtuse Road, a narrow winding roadway that intersects with Route 6 in the Hawleyville section of Newtown.

Police said the vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree. The incident was reported at approximately 1:53 am, and Brookfield police, fire, and EMS personnel responded.

The investigating officer said Mr Potter sustained fatal injuries in the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene. (An obituary appears on Page A3.)

The victim is the brother of Chris Potter, a tailback with the Newtown High School football team. The Nighthawks held a brief practice on Saturday to go over film from the night before and another brief practice on Tuesday before releasing team members to attend the wake for Justin Potter.

“You lose football games and get beaten up on a Friday night,” said head coach Ken Roberts, “but when a teammate loses a brother you really hurt. It puts things in perspective. I have to give the kids credit — they are putting their teammate first. We’ve lost two days of practice but they know Chris needs us more than we need to prepare for Joel Barlow.”

The Joel Barlow game is Friday night at 7 pm at Blue & Gold Stadium.

The accident is still under investigation, and police say there were apparently no other vehicles involved. The roadway was closed until just after 5 am while police completed their preliminary investigation.