Man Pleads Guilty in Construction Fatality

By: Justin Muszynski
Source: Hartford Courant (TNS)

A man who reportedly admitted to police he should not have been driving because of a history of seizures has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with a crash that killed a construction worker in Hartford in June 2024.

Tommy Nguyen, 26, took a plea deal on Monday in Hartford Superior Court, pleading guilty to one count of first-degree manslaughter, according to court records.

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In exchange for the plea, a number of other charges are expected to be dropped, including those of risk of injury to a minor, reckless driving, operating under suspension, transporting a child between 5 and 8 years old without the proper restraint and multiple other offenses. The deal Nguyen accepted will include a seven-year prison term followed by probation.

“I’ll reserve my comments for sentencing,” Nguyen’s attorney, Michael L. Chambers, Jr., said Tuesday when reached for comment.

Nguyen remains free on a $500,000 bond while he awaits sentencing, which has been scheduled for Oct. 20, records show.

Nguyen has been charged in connection with a crash shortly after noon on June 12, 2024, in the area of West Boulevard and South Whitney Street. Officers responded to the area on a report of a construction worker being struck by a vehicle.

According to Lt. Aaron Boisvert of the Hartford Police Department, the worker was identified as 54-year-old Jose Diaz-Nieves of East Hartford who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police also found a disabled vehicle at the scene and identified Nguyen as the driver, Boisvert previously said. Two passengers, including a 5-year-old who was sitting on a passenger’s lap, were transported to an area hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Vehicle “flew over” open trench: witness

According to the police report, a construction worker who witnessed the crash said she saw a motorist, later identified as Nguyen, allegedly speeding on West Boulevard where he “flew over” an open trench and struck Diaz-Nieves. Another witness told police Diaz-Nieves was “catapulted” over two dump trucks following the collision, the report said.

Video surveillance in the area showed Nguyen traveling quickly through the construction site and nearly hit the flagger before striking Diaz-Nieves and then two dump trucks, which disabled the vehicle and caused extensive damage, according to the report.

When police spoke to Nguyen, he said he was driving a family member home from the grocery store when his head felt like he was about to have a seizure, the report said. He said did not remember anything during the crash, police wrote.

Nguyen also told police he frequently gets seizures, though they’re usually while he’s asleep, and that he has a hole in his heart, according to the report. He does not take any medications, he said, and had previously been hospitalized two to three times for previous seizures, the report said.

Nguyen said that he was told by a doctor to see a specialist for his condition, which he said stems from the issue with his heart and causes the seizures, but he never sought any additional treatment, according to the report. He reportedly told police this is the second car crash he has been in that was caused by a seizure and that during the previous collision he struck an electrical box in Hartford, the report said.

Nguyen alleged that he has had about 10 seizures in the past two months and was aware that both his license was suspended and his car was not registered, the report said.

“I know that I probably shouldn’t be driving because I have seizures, but I never know when they are going to happen or what causes them to happen,” Nguyen said in his statement to police, according to the report.

When other family members arrived at the scene, they asked whether Nguyen had had “another seizure,” the report said.