A 36-year-old Plymouth man has been charged in connection with a Farmington highway crash that killed a 34-year-old New York father, after police said he had been awake for more than 19 hours and had napped for less than an hour before the collision. Daniel Morrone was arrested by Connecticut State Police on Sept. 24 and was arraigned at State Superior Court in Torrington on charges that include misconduct with a motor vehicle, third-degree assault, failure to maintain proper lane and violating Connecticut's move over law.
According to CT Insider, Morrone was driving a Ram Promaster van when it went into the right shoulder of Interstate 84 East near Exit 37 on Sept. 29, 2025, striking Adam Peppe, 34, of Brewster, New York, who was standing on the shoulder. Peppe was killed in the crash, which closed the eastbound highway between exits 36 and 37 from early that Monday morning into the afternoon, according to NBC Connecticut. Peppe died at UConn Health in Farmington; per autopsy findings, he died of blunt force injuries to the head, neck, trunk and extremities, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner classified his manner of death as an accident.
How the Crash Unfolded on the Shoulder
Sergey Bazukin, 43, of Westfield, Massachusetts, and Peppe had pulled over after a rear-end collision with another motorist, the report's account indicates. Bazukin stood on the right shoulder about two feet from the white line while inspecting damage to his flatbed truck, while Peppe stood within the right lane with part of his right foot on the white line. Morrone's van sideswiped Bazukin's flatbed truck and struck Bazukin with its right mirror before hitting Peppe, who was struck on the shoulder, per the arrest warrant cited in the same report.
Bazukin said he believed Peppe's vehicle may have struck his truck and followed it until it stopped on Interstate 84 East before Exit 37. Peppe had his young daughter inside his Nissan Rogue during the crash; police say she was not injured. Motorists, including an off-duty Bethel police officer, performed CPR on Peppe at the scene before he was taken to the hospital.
Fatigue Indicators Cited in Arrest Warrant
Police described Morrone as being in a fatigued state at the time of the crash. According to the arrest warrant, he had worked an overnight shift at Walmart from 10:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., then drove to a 7 a.m. shift at Bozzuto's, taking only a 30-to-45-minute nap in between. Police said he had been awake for 19 hours and 25 minutes in the 25-hour period before the crash.
A camera inside the Bozzuto's van reportedly showed indicators of drowsiness or fatigue, including head nodding, head swings and microsleep, according to the arrest warrant. Connecticut State Police found no mechanical issues with the van. Morrone was released on a $75,000 surety bond following his arraignment.
Drowsy Driving's Broader Toll in Connecticut
The crash lands amid a wider pattern tracked statewide: from 2021 through 2025, Connecticut saw more than 6,200 crashes involving an asleep or fatigued driver, including more than 2,200 injury crashes and eight fatal crashes, according to AAA Northeast. Nationally, more than 6,300 people died in suspected drowsy-driving crashes in 2023, the organization reports, and such crashes occur most frequently between midnight and 6 a.m. or in the late afternoon. AAA notes that drowsy driving can be just as dangerous as impaired driving depending on a driver's fatigue level, and recommends drivers get at least seven hours of sleep beforehand.
Despite those numbers, Connecticut has no law or penalty specifically targeting drowsy driving, according to the Connecticut Highway Safety Office, though fatigue-related behavior can still lead to charges like reckless driving or speeding. The agency also notes that crash investigators can look for signs that drowsiness contributed to a crash, but those signs are not always conclusive. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration similarly cautions that determining a precise number of drowsy-driving crashes, injuries and fatalities nationwide is not yet possible.
