A Middlefield man faces manslaughter and other charges for allegedly driving under the influence of multiple medications when he caused a crash in Milford last September that killed a motorcyclist.
Angel Caraballo, 43, was arrested recently and charged with second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle, second-degree reckless endangerment and reckless driving, according to Connecticut State Police.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, emergency crews responded to I-95 North in the area of Exit 39A around 7:20 p.m. on Sept. 22, 2023, on the report of a motor vehicle collision involving a motorcycle. While en route, state police troopers were informed that a doctor at the scene was performing CPR on the motorcycle operator after he was found to not have a pulse.
Members of the Milford Fire Department pronounced the victim dead at 7:39 p.m., the warrant affidavit said. The man was identified as 33-year-old Victor Ryan Forbes of West Haven.
According to the warrant affidavit, troopers found that Forbes was driving a Honda motorcycle north when a Ford Super Duty F-550 truck drifted into the left lane and hit the bike, pushing it into the concrete barrier in the median. The truck was towing a flatbed trailer and was registered to SavaTree LLC., a tree care business with offices in New Milford.
The driver of the truck was identified as Caraballo, who had “slow, slurred speech” and appeared confused, the warrant affidavit said. He also allegedly appeared uneasy on his feet and stumbled multiple times once he got out of the truck, state police wrote.
According to the warrant affidavit, Caraballo agreed to take multiple field sobriety tests and allegedly told troopers he was on several medications, including quetiapine, which is used to treat bipolar disorder, depression and other disorders; clonazepam, which is used to treat seizures, anxiety and other issues; as well as paroxetine, which is used to treat depression and panic disorders.
He reportedly failed the tests and was arrested at the scene on charges of failure to maintain the proper lane and with driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, state police said at the time.
While in custody, state police allege that Caraballo told troopers multiple times that he was not supposed to be driving while taking his medications, the warrant affidavit said.
A witness to the crash told state police she could see the driver of the truck, which was towing lawn equipment, was swerving in the center lane, prompting her to tell her husband to call 911 and report it, according to the warrant affidavit. The woman alleged that she saw the Ford swerve at least a dozen times across all three lanes before striking the motorcycle, state police wrote. The Ford nearly struck multiple other vehicles as well.
The witness told troopers the Ford swerved to the left as the motorcycle operator tried to pass it in the left lane, the warrant affidavit said. She said the collision sent the bike into the concrete barrier before the operator “rolled off” the bike and landed in the median, according to the warrant affidavit. The woman said she and her husband pulled over after the crash and that her husband got out of the car to check on the motorcyclist. When he came back he told her a doctor was assisting the man and that the driver of the Ford was “blitzed,” the warrant affidavit said.
The witness was able to provide state police with video of the crash. The video reportedly corroborated the woman’s statements about the Ford swerving prior to the crash and captured the collision as well, the warrant affidavit said. Troopers said the video appeared to show that the motorcyclist was run over by the trailer the Ford was towing, according to the warrant affidavit.
State police said Caraballo agreed to provide investigators with a urine sample and was evaluated by a drug recognition expert, who concluded that he was under the influence of a central nervous system depressant and was not fit to drive a vehicle, the warrant affidavit said.
Caraballo told investigators he was at the gym a day before the crash when he had a hard time breathing, so he went to the hospital and was prescribed medication for bipolar disorder, the warrant affidavit said. Later in the day, he alleged that went to two different job sites to cut trees and, at one of them, had difficulty breathing and passed out during a panic attack, according to the warrant affidavit.
Caraballo said his daughter had to come check on him before he sat down for a bit and finished his work, the warrant affidavit said. He alleged that he had multiple more panic attacks the next day prior to the crash.
Caraballo told state police he was bringing a truck from Norwalk to Bloomfield when his vision got cloudy as he was driving on I-95, the warrant affidavit said. He said the next thing he remembered was the truck striking a concrete barrier, state police wrote.
Caraballo denied consuming any alcohol prior to the crash and said he had only taken his medications, the warrant affidavit said. He reportedly conceded that he is not supposed to drive while using the medication but said he “needed to work for money,” according to the warrant affidavit.
In November 2023, state police received the results from the urine sample Caraballo had provided. It showed that he had aminoclonazepam, lamotrigine and quetiapine in his system, the warrant affidavit said.
The results of the autopsy performed on Forbes by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found that died of blunt force trauma to his head, torso and lower extremities. The death was ruled an accident.
The state police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Squad found that the fatal crash was caused by Caraballo failing to stay in one lane, with a contributing factor being the drugs that were in his system, according to the warrant affidavit.
The warrant for Caraballo’s arrest was signed earlier this month. Following his arrest, he was released on a $25,000 bond and was expected to be arraigned in Milford Superior Court on Monday.
