SCSU Professor Critically Hurt in New Haven Hit-and-Run

NEW HAVEN, CT — Southern Connecticut State University English professor Mike Shea, 74, is in stable but critical condition after a rider on what police described as an apparent e-bike hit him in a Whalley Avenue crosswalk on the night of Friday, Oct. 9, and fled, the New Haven Independent reported.

Officers were called to the crash in Westville at about 9 p.m., New Haven police spokesperson Officer Christian Bruckhart told the Independent. Shea and a second pedestrian were stepping into the marked crosswalk outside 827 Whalley Ave., the Lyric Hall building, when the rider, heading north on Whalley, went around the right side of cars stopped at the West Rock Avenue signal, kept going through the intersection and struck Shea. The rider left with the bike. Shea was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital.

"Mike Shea is a longtime professor in Southern Connecticut State University's English Department. He is in stable but critical condition following surgery over the weekend," Allison O'Leary, the university's interim director of communications and marketing, told the Independent.

Police Are Reviewing Camera Footage

Police Chief David Zannelli said detectives are gathering video from city and private cameras to find and identify the rider. It was dark and raining, he said, and the rider may have had their face covered.

"It's obviously completely unacceptable what happened to him," Zannelli said, "and we're gonna do our best to find out who's responsible." As far as he knew, the chief added, Shea "was doing everything right."

A Teacher and a Supporter of the Arts

Andrew Smyth, who also teaches English at SCSU and is Shea's friend, called him an "institution." Shea once chaired the English Department and teaches Shakespeare and film, Smyth told the Independent, and he backs the city's arts scene in a big way.

Lyric Hall, an antique restoration studio that doubles as a theater, was showing a documentary about the New Haven Green that night. Cavaliere, whose store is at the crosswalk and who moderated a panel after the film, later told the Independent he had learned that Shea was at the event.

Neighbors Want a Safer Whalley Avenue

Whalley Avenue is a state road under the Connecticut Department of Transportation, and neighbors have pressed for years to make it safer to cross. "The bike lanes in general have been helpful, but I just think that we need more traffic calming," Zannelli said. "The street cameras will be helpful."

Cavaliere's advocacy, with that of State Rep. Pat Dillon and others, got the state to slow traffic on that part of Westville, and the crosswalk Shea was using came out of that work, the Independent reported. He has called for brick paving and brighter striping at the crossing. "It's just open season on pedestrians," he said.

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