Firefighter Charged With Manslaughter, DUI in Fatal Crash

A Durham man who serves as a firefighter in Middletown's South Fire District was charged Thursday with second-degree manslaughter in connection with a Middletown car crash in July that killed one person and injured three.

Stephen Tyrseck, 36, of 9R Mountain Road, was arrested by Middletown police on a warrant after he turned himself in on Thursday afternoon.

He was charged with second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle, misconduct with a motor vehicle, negligent homicide with a motor vehicle, reckless driving, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and speeding.

He was initially held on a $100,000 but posted bond later in the day. He is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 28 at Superior Court in Middletown.

Tyrseck at the time of the crash was a firefighter in Middletown's South District Fire Department, according to the published reports. He was the sole occupant of the pickup truck, police said. Police said there were four people in the automobile.

One of the passengers was Alexander Martinez of Meriden. He was killed when Tyrseck’s 2008 Ford F350 pickup collided with a car on South Main Street near the intersection of Highland Avenue in Middletown.

Martinez was pronounced dead at the scene after being ejected from the 2002 Honda Civic about 2:30 a.m., according to police.

The Civic, operated by Jedidiah Roesler, 22, of Meriden, was traveling north on South Main, turned turn left onto Highland Avenue, when the front of the Ford hit the right side of the Honda.

The other three occupants of the Honda and driver of the Ford were taken to Hartford Hospital for non-life threatening injuries.