Ridgefield road rage

Confrontation leaves father of three seriously injured

By Susan Tuz THE NEWS-TIMES

RIDGEFIELD � A father of three sustained serious injuries after being hit by a car during what Ridgefield police are calling a "road rage" incident.

On March 4, Paul Minigiello, 45, was driving home to Stonecrest Road when he had a confrontation with another driver.

His wife, Lois Harrison, said her husband doesn't remember much of what happened. He remembers stopping his car and getting out on Stonecrest Road. The next thing he recalls is being in the ambulance, Harrison said.

"We rode in the ambulance to Yale-New Haven (Hospital)," Harrison said Thursday. "Paul has a fractured pelvis, a broken collar bone, two collapsed lungs and a fractured hand. He'll be in the hospital for several months."

A hospital spokeswoman said Minigiello was in stable condition Thursday evening.

Ridgefield police are being tight lipped about the incident, which occurred Saturday at 6:20 p.m. A spokesman said there is an ongoing "criminal investigation.

But sources familiar with the incident said the confrontation started after one of drivers was tailgating the other, and that Minigiello may have attempted to climb onto the hood of the other operator's vehicle.

Police Capt. Steven Brown said no arrests have been made as of Thursday. "Investigators are still determining all the facts," Brown said, adding both people involved are Ridgefield residents and adults.

Harrison, a homemaker, wants authorities to move quicker. "I haven't heard much from the police," she said. "I know they got the driver of the other vehicle."

She and Minigiello have three children, ages 17, 3 and 11 months. Members of Harrison's family are staying with her to help out.

Minigiello and his family moved to Ridgefield 18 months ago. He had been an art director in New York City, working with the Simon & Schuster publishing house for a number of years. The family wanted to get out of the city, Harrison said. Minigiello had taken a job at Fast Frame in Ridgefield as a framer.

Residents of the quiet neighborhood on Stonecrest Road, near the North Street intersection where Minigiello was hit, are stunned.

"Everybody's talking about it," said neighbor Richard Stearns. "I don't want to speculate on what happened. We saw the man lying in the road, heard he was hit and heard it was a case of road rage."

Another neighbor, who asked that his name not be published, said he saw Minigiello lying in the road by a neighbor's driveway.

"He was bleeding heavily from the head. Neighbors found him lying there," he said. "The road was full of people walking around, standing there. Then the police and the ambulance came. The next day, the police were here measuring. That same day a young man was in the neighborhood taking pictures of the area."

Staff writer John Pirro contributed to this article.

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