Monroe police have identified the man found dead inside his SUV Monday morning after an apparent accident across from the intersection of Monroe Turnpike (Route 111) and Shelton Road (Route 110).
The victim is Liam Callahan, 42, of 16 Totem Trail in Sandy Hook, police said.
The cause of the accident and associated details are currently under investigation by the Serious Accident Investigation Team, according to a statement issued by the Monroe Police Department on Tuesday morning.
At around 9:39 a.m. Monday, Sept. 10, a Connecticut Light & Power employee slowed his truck down on Monroe Turnpike, directly across the street from the Route 110 intersection, to inspect a pole following last Saturday's storm, when he looked down and noticed a vehicle in a gully off the roadway, according to police.
Monroe police officers, firefighters and Emergency Medical Service personnel responded to the scene, but quickly determined that the male driver — who turned out to be Callahan — was deceased. There were no passengers.
Police Capt. Michael Flick said police did not know how long the SUV was in the woods. He said the mid-size SUV was not visible to a normal passerby because of the heavy vegetation surrounding it.
Callahan is a former Norwalk police officer fired for removing evidence from the scene of a police investigation in 2005, according to an article published by the Hearst Connecticut Media Group. He was later reinstated before resigning last year amidst allegations that he pulled a gun on a patron in a Sandy Hook restaurant, according to the Norwalk Forum.
