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Man pleads not guilty to Wellesley hit-and-run crash

Connor Campanelli, in court Monday, pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from a traffic collision with a bicyclist.WCVB-TV

DEDHAM — A Wellesley man had been drinking wine with friends less than an hour before allegedly crashing his pickup truck into a cyclist on a residential road Friday and driving away, authorities said.

A witness told police that Connor Campanelli, who was arraigned Monday on hit-and-run charges, had also been drinking at his family’s Wellesley home earlier in the day, where he was seen consuming three “Solo cups of champagne mimosas,” according to a police report on the crash filed in Dedham District Court.

After parting ways for a few hours, the group of friends gathered at Rocky Ledges conservation area in Wellesley to watch the sunset, where Campanelli, 21, “shared a bottle of wine” with another friend, the police’s witness said.

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Shortly after the group left the conservation area around 6 p.m., witnesses saw Campanelli’s SUV cross over the center line on Hampshire Road and hit a cyclist, traveling in the opposite direction, head on.

Bruce Ingle, a 47-year-old from Framingham, sustained a serious fracture of two bones in his arm and was scheduled to undergo surgery during the weekend, according to the police report.

When interviewed by police Friday evening, Ingle had no recollection of the crash, police said. He had been wearing a helmet on his ride through the neighborhood of winding, hilly streets.

Witnesses estimated that Campanelli was driving about 40 miles per hour, police said. The speed limit in the neighborhood is 30 miles per hour.

Within an hour-and-a-half of the crash, Campanelli turned himself in at the Wellesley Police Station, police said. He agreed to take a breath alcohol test, which registered .14, well above the legal limit of .08.

“I guess that’s what you get for chugging wine,” Campanelli said after learning of the test results, the police report said.

When Campanelli arrived at the station with his parents he smelled of alcohol, officers said. His eyes were red and appeared slightly swollen.

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Campanelli was arraigned Monday on five charges, including operating under the influence of liquor and leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $3,000 bail.

Neither Campanelli nor his lawyer, Melinda Thompson of the Boston firm Todd & Weld LLP, could be reached for comment. Campanelli is due back in court April 21.


Ellen Ishkanian can be reached at eishkanian@gmail.com.