WINSTED — Twenty-one-year-old Colin Gordon of Torrington said he was lucky that he wasn’t the one in the back seat of Gail Bull’s Jeep Cherokee when it was hit from behind Nov. 4 on Route 8 in Torrington near the Winsted line, but that good fortune resulted in the death of one of his friends.
Gordon said he remembers a sudden jolt, followed by the Jeep sliding across the highway, from right to left, across the passing lane, and slamming into the guardrail, where it came to a stop. When he looked into the rear cargo area of the vehicle, he saw Patricia Bessette trapped in the crumpled wreck.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, Trish,’� Gordon recalled in an interview this week. “She said, ‘I can’t breathe.’ I was holding her hand and I told her not to move. I tried to give her mouth-to-mouth and everything, and she started gasping for air, like she was drowning.�
Gordon said he didn’t see the white pickup truck police believe was driven by Matthew Prelli of Winsted — nor did he see the truck fleeing the scene after striking Bull’s Jeep. He and Bull were able to walk away from the car, while Bessette struggled for air.
Gordon said a witness stopped at the scene of the accident, followed by other motorists who stopped to help. A paramedic was on the scene shortly thereafter to administer a hand-held breathing apparatus. Gordon watched as Bessette slipped out of consciousness.
“It was really scary,� he said. “You could see everything in front of you. I was just thinking about my son in the back of my head and looking at the other part of the highway down below. We could have gone right over the guardrail.�
Gordon said he had grabbed onto a the passenger-side handle as Bull’s Jeep skidded across the highway, and that Bessette was trying to save the dog, a Rottweiller riding with them in the back of the car, as they spun out of control. “She was trying to help the dog and she was flying all over the place. She flew into the back cargo area.�
Gordon said he would have been riding in the back seat of the car if it wasn’t for the Rottweiler, which didn’t seem to like him. “Trish was sitting in back with the dog. That’s the only reason I was in front.�
Gordon said one of the witnesses had seen the alleged hit-and-run vehicle driving erratically a couple of miles back, where it had almost hit another car. He said he hasn’t heard anything about the alleged driver of the pickup truck.
“If he would have stopped and helped it still would have been bad, but at least he would have tried,� he said. “Why would you leave the scene?�
That’s what friends and family members of Bessette have been asking all week as they wonder what will result from this tragic case.
“I hope justice is served,� Gordon said.
