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Background: A section of Nashville Road in Bethel, Connecticut (Google Maps). Inset left: Andrew Hitchcock (Bethel Police Department/News-Times). Inset right: Michael Herman Rieve (Danbury Memorial and Cremation Service LLC).
In Connecticut, a man was tragically struck while crossing the street to check his mailbox, with the driver responsible fleeing the scene, according to authorities.
Legal documents reviewed by Law&Crime reveal that Andrew Hitchcock, aged 66, faces charges for fleeing the scene of a fatal accident. It’s anticipated that Hitchcock will accept a plea bargain, with sentencing expected in the upcoming weeks, as reported by The News-Times. The victim, identified as 65-year-old Michael Rieve, was killed in the incident.
The accident occurred on September 22, 2025, along Nashville Road in Bethel, Connecticut, where Rieve resided. While crossing to access his mailbox, he was struck by a white Infiniti G37. Investigators suggest that Hitchcock was en route home from work when he collided with Rieve but failed to stop or alert emergency responders.
Authorities report that the driver of the Infiniti continued without stopping. Rieve remained injured for approximately 10 minutes until a passerby noticed him and contacted emergency services.
Bethel Police Department officers arrived at the location around 8 p.m. and quickly determined that Rieve had been hit by a vehicle traveling northbound, which had left the scene before their arrival. He was initially taken to a local hospital before being transferred, where he succumbed to his injuries the following day.
According to an arrest warrant for Hitchcock, a camera in a Tesla parked at Rieve”s residence captured the crash and fleeing of the Infiniti. A vehicle’s side mirror that was left behind also appeared to match the car shown on the footage.
Investigators then obtained surveillance footage from a nearby gas station that showed a vehicle passing through with an “uneven light” appearing to indicate that a headlight was damaged or destroyed. Police said that as they canvassed the area, they “located a vehicle that matched the description of the suspect vehicle and appeared to have damage and marks consistent with the accident.”
The vehicle was “seized, and a search warrant obtained in which further testing confirmed that vehicle was the vehicle that struck the victim,” police added. Court records say that Hitchcock was arrested on Dec. 6, 2025.
Hitchcock was released on $75,000 bond. During a court appearance on Monday, Hitchcock’s attorney acknowledged that prosecutors made them an offer, and he said he would discuss it with his client, per The News-Times.
The defendant’s next court date is scheduled for June 1.
Rieve’s obituary remembers him as a sailor who had just begun to golf, as a Bethel Fire Department volunteer, but yet whose “greatest passion in life was loving his family, especially his grandchildren.”