Sandy Hook Man Killed In Monroe Auto Crash

By Andrew Gorosko

MONROE — Monroe police said emergency service workers responded to a 911 call Monday morning concerning a one-car motor vehicle accident that had occurred near the intersection of Route 111 and Route 110, where they then found a Sandy Hook man deceased in the vehicle.

Police identified the man as Liam J. Callahan, 42, of Totem Trail in Sandy Hook.

Monroe Police Lieutenant Brian McCauley said that at 9:39 am on Monday, Monroe police received a 911 call from a Connecticut Light & Power Company (CL&P) worker who reported that he had spotted a vehicle off the road at Route 111, near Route 110.

The CL&P worker had slowed his truck to inspect a utility pole for any damage stemming from a September 8 storm, when he then spotted an overturned 1996 Jeep Cherokee SUV about 10 feet below the road’s grade amid some obscuring vegetation, Lt McCauley said.

The location of the vehicle down the embankment amid the vegetation had kept the vehicle out of plain sight, the lieutenant said. The SUV’s roof was damaged in the crash, police said.

It is unclear when the accident occurred.

The police department’s Serious Accident Investigation Team is probing the accident.

A spokeswoman for the chief state’s medical examiner’s office in Farmington said Wednesday that the results of an autopsy on Mr Callahan’s remains indicated that he died an accidental death due to positional asphyxia.

Positional asphyxia, or postural suffocation, may occur when people find themselves in a breathing-restricted position that they cannot get out of as a consequence of an accident.

Lt McCauley said that Monroe police would disclose more information on their investigation into the fatality as it becomes available.

Newtown police said that at 9:42 pm on Sunday, September 9, they had received a call from Mr Callahan’s wife, Laura, reporting him as a missing person from Totem Trail.

According to his obituary, Mr Callahan was a retired Norwalk police officer. He worked for a security company and was co-owner of The Angry Pepper, a specialty foods shop in Monroe.