Police Probing Fatal Shelton Crash

Two bouquets of flowers lay on the lawn in front of the Riverdale Diner Wednesday afternoon, a stark reminder of the chaotic scene there Tuesday where an Ansonia motorcyclist died after colliding with a car.

Police identified the man early Wednesday as Brian Laneuville, 24.

Efforts to reach Laneuville’s family Wednesday were unsuccessful. A woman who answered the phone at a Shelton residence listed under the name declined to comment.

An obituary said Laneuville was a 2006 graduate of Emmett O’Brien Technical High School and worked at Precision Tune Auto Care in Shelton.

Click here to read the obituary.

As word of Laneuville’s death spread Wednesday, many Valley Indy readers shared condolences and offered prayers for his family.

Police are still probing Tuesday’s crash. No charges have been filed. 

They ask anyone who saw the accident to call the department’s Traffic Division at 203 – 924-1544.

A press release issued by Detective Sgt. Kevin Ahern Wednesday morning said a ​“preliminary investigation” revealed that Laneuville was headed south on River Road when he collided with a sedan driven by Noreen Labranche, 54, also of Seymour, near the diner’s driveway.

Labranche was also headed south, according to police.

Several people dialed 911 about 4:20 p.m. Tuesday to report the accident.

Police and EMS personnel responded, taking Laneuville to the Bridgeport Hospital Trauma Center, where he was later pronounced dead, according to police.

His is the first crash-related death in the city since July 2010, when police Sgt. Orville Smith died from injuries sustained after being struck by a drunk driver while directing traffic.

But for the improvised floral monument to Laneuville the diner — which sits in a triangular plot between River and Coram roads — was back to normal Wednesday.

A day earlier police tape had festooned the property’s River Road entrance as officers with the Police Department’s Accident Reconstruction Team tried to piece together how the crash had occurred.

As several officers investigated the crash in the diner’s parking lot Tuesday afternoon, Laneuville’s motorcycle lay on its side in the lot, near the business’ front door.

Labranche’s Nissan Altima, which sustained front-end damage in the crash, sat stationary on Route 110 just south of the diner’s entrance from the road.

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