Police vehicles outside the Ansonia Police Department.
ANSONIA – Ansonia police are warning drivers to slow down on city streets, especially in light of an arrest last week of a motorcyclist travelling nearly 100 m.p.h. on Pershing Drive.
According to Ansonia Lt. Patrick Lynch, the department has added extra patrols for speed enforcement thanks to a two-year, $50,000 grant from the state.
“These extra patrols will continue to be added to help reduce the violations and the accidents that result from the speeding vehicles,” Lynch said. “Please slow down, those extra couple of seconds you may be saving to reach your destination are not worth it.”
Lynch said during two days last week, more than 80 vehicles have been stopped for excessive violation of posted speed limits on numerous streets. One of those stops included a motorcycle going nearly 100 m.p.h.
Lynch said an officer was doing radar enforcement on Monday, Labor Day (Sept. 4) on Pershing Drive. Around 6 p.m., the officer saw a motorcycle travelling very fast. The radar showed the motorcycle was going 94 m.p.h., where the posted speed limit is 35 m.p.h.
“The motorcycle was travelling so fast the officer was only able to broadcast the description and direction of travel of the motorcycle to the other patrol units,” Lynch told the Valley Indy via an email Thursday (Sept. 7). “The motorcycle was found a short time later on Grove Street. It had broken down and the operator was located a block away.”
Lynch said the motorcycle operator was identified as Kevin Gaulin, 26, of Ansonia. Gaulin denied driving the motorcycle, Lynch said, but was identified by the officer and he had the keys to the motorcycle in his possession.
Gaulin was arrested and charged with reckless driving, failure to obey traffic signal, failure to insurance motor vehicle, and operating unregistered motor vehicle. Lynch said Gaulin was released on a $5,000 bond with a court date of Sept. 18 at Derby Superior Court.
Lynch said just about three and half hours after Gaulin was arrested, the same officer was doing radar enforcement on Wakelee Avenue when he stopped Gaulin again. This time, Lynch said Gaulin was driving a passenger car travelling 61 m.p.h. in a 35 m.p.h. zone. Gaulin was issued a $756 infraction for travelling fast and not having insurance.
Residents posting to various Ansonia community groups often post about speeding, especially on Wakelee Avenue, a straight away popular with wanna-be dragsters.
