Investigation continues in Sound plunge

Published: Friday, March 13, 2009
By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff

BRANFORD — Police are still investigating an accident that killed a Guilford man when a Jeep he was riding in plunged into Long Island Sound early Wednesday, although they said the incident does not appear to have involved foul play.

Investigators are waiting to conduct an in-depth interview of the driver, who survived the accident. Autopsy results and blood tests on the driver are considered crucial in the ongoing investigation, according to police.

Mark Albo, 34, died at Yale-New Haven Hospital Wednesday after the SUV in which he was a passenger — and which was driven by his half-brother, Daniel Fleischauer, 22 — entered the water at the end of Flying Point Road. Fleischauer was taken by ambulance to the hospital and later released, police said.

Deputy Police Chief Thomas Fowler said that investigators are waiting for autopsy results from the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner, as well as blood tests for the driver, a standard procedure in fatal accidents, he said.

“We’re still following up all the usual stuff in a fatal accident,” he said.

Fowler said that no Breathalyzer tests were done at the scene, as emergency personnel took Fleischauer to Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Police did an initial interview with Fleischauer Wednesday, Fowler said, and will most likely speak with him again in coming days.

On Wednesday, investigators said they were unsure how the brothers, both of Guilford, ended up at the bottom of a ramp at the end of a private stretch of the road. But Fowler said Thursday the events appear to have been accidental.

“There’s nothing that’s leading us to believe at this point that it’s anything but a tragic accident,” he said.

The results of an autopsy are still pending, an official with the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner said.

“Obviously, the victim’s cause of death will lend some information as to what exactly happened,” Fowler said.