Man charged with manslaughter, operating under the influence in fatal Sept. crash
A Griswold man was charged with manslaughter on Monday after a crash that killed one woman and injured a man in Griswold in September 2025.
Birenkumar Arvindbhai Patel was charged with manslaughter in the second degree, operating under the influence, failure to drive right, reckless driving, misconduct with a motor vehicle, and assault in the second degree.
On Sept. 28, 2025, state police said Patel was traveling southbound on Preston Road in a gray Tesla when he crossed into the northbound travel lane and collided with a white Tesla that was traveling north.
After the head-on collision, troopers said the front seat passenger in the white Tesla, 21-year-old Alexis Ann Newcomb, of Ashburnham, Mass., suffered serious injuries. She was transported to Backus Hospital and later died.
The driver of the white Tesla suffered minor injuries and was also taken to Backus Hospital.
Police arrived at the scene around 3 p.m. that day. A state trooper performed standardized field sobriety tests on Patel 12 minutes later, and he was arrested at 3:33 p.m. for an OUI. He then asked to go to the hospital for suspected injuries, according to an arrest warrant.
At Backus Hospital, a detective tried to perform a drug influence evaluation on Patel, but he was not medically cleared to attempt the evaluation. During the tests he could attempt, Patel “would not follow direction” and was listed as refusing to conduct. The detective could not get enough information to complete the evaluation, the arrest warrant stated.
The hospital took blood and urine specimens from Patel around 4:32 p.m. that day. His blood alcohol content was 0.30, according to the arrest warrant. The legal limit to drive is 0.08.
The next day, Patel was issued a misdemeanor summons for OUI and failure to drive right. He was released on a $250,000 cash bond that day, the arrest warrant stated.
After gathering information from witnesses, reviewing dashcam footage on both Teslas, collecting evidence at the scene, examining the vehicles, and considering Patel’s BAC, detectives concluded that Patel caused the crash, the arrest warrant stated.
Patel was given a $500,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court in Norwich on March 31.
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