New Haven police have charged a 22-year-old local woman in a crash that killed another woman in April.
Police said they obtained an arrest warrant for Antwuaniece Robinson on Monday and she turned herself in after the warrant was signed.
Police said Robinson was driving a Buick Century westbound on Goffe Terrace, entered the intersection at Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, and struck a Honda Civic driving by Carolina Chicas-Sabatino on April 19.
Chicas-Sabatino died from the injuries she sustained in the crash.
According to police, the speed limit on Goffe Terrace is 25 miles per hour. Two seconds before the Buick’s air-bags went off, the Event Data Recorder indicated that Robinson’s car was traveling 78 miles per hour -- 53 miles per hour over the speed limt.
Before the crash, Officer Jose Luna tried to pull the Buick over because it was speeding recklessly and going through traffic lights, but the driver wouldn’t comply and Luna lost sight of the car, police said.
At 9:04 p.m., Officer Luna searched the neighborhood, discovered the crash scene and saw Robinson climbing out of the driver’s window, police said. One man and one woman were passengers in the Buick.
EMTs and firefighters responded and Officer David Rivera spotted what looked like crack cocaine on the floor of the car. He later recovered 45 grams of crack cocaine, drug packaging materials and $1,720 in cash from one of the passengers, police said.
When Robinson spoke with police at the hospital, she said she didn’t know Officer Luna had tried pulling her over and said she was fleeing from a Honda Civic that was following her, according to police.
She told investigators that one of the men in the Honda had pointed a gun at her in front of the Taurus Nightclub on Winchester Avenue, police said.
Police obtained a search warrant, searched the Buick and found three resealable bags of crack cocaine, two iPhones and uncooked rice, which police said is often used to keep heroin dry.
Laboratory results showed that Robinson was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash.
However, she was driving under a suspended license, police said. The Buick was unregistered, had the wrong license plate and was uninsured.
Robinson has been charged with manslaughter in the first degree, misconduct with a motor vehicle, reckless driving, engaging an officer in pursuit, operating under suspension, misuse of marker plates, operating an unregistered motor vehicle and failing to obey traffic control signals.
Her bail has been set at $300,000.