Christopher Simonelli in Court Today

Remember my little friend here that I heard about on the police scanner, my mom, the news, and then found on facebook?

Here he is boys! And he still has quite a following of supporters as I see by his wall. Good for them all, he needs all the support he can get.

I'm glad that the judge is being so harsh, he's right in the fact that this ordeal could have been devastatingly worse, in fact, it's almost a miracle it wasn't.

Again, my baby sister, mom, and grandmother all missed being in that chaos by only a minute or two.

Police: Box-trucker driver on PCP during East Side rampage

STAMFORD -- The city man who stole a box-truck from his employer and went on a destructive and violent drive through the East Side last month had drugs in his system when he was transported to Stamford Hospital, court records show.

Based on initial toxicology tests, police accident investigators believe Christopher Simonelli, 30, of Frederick Street, was on PCP during the alleged Nov. 16 rampage, which ended when he smashed into the side of a school bus carrying 27 Stamford High School students, injuring 12 of them.

Following a weeks-long investigation, Simonelli was arrested Thursday morning on a litany of felony charges, including several first-degree assault offenses and 25 counts of risk of injury to a minor.

Simonelli had been acting irrationally at his workplace before the incident, "posing topless" at work at one point, court papers show.

He stole the truck from his employer Action Letter, Inc., on Elm Court at 2:22 p.m. and then raced through the CTTransit bus maintenance facility there, police said.

The truck crashed through the rear gate of the CTTransit property, then hurtled north on Myrtle Avenue before turning west on East Main Street.

The accidents shut down a quarter-mile stretch of East Main Street from Glenbrook Road to Myrtle Avenue until 7:15 p.m., causing major gridlock throughout the downtown area.

A bearded Simonelli, who suffered life-threatening injuries and was extricated from the box-truck with power tools, made his court appearance in a wheelchair with a cut over his left eye and his right hand bandaged.

Defense attorney Lindy Urso said Simonelli broke both his legs in the series of car crashes. A search warrant included in his court file details his injuries, among them a broken right wrist, right thigh and right ankle.

State Superior Court Judge Richard Comerford ordered Simonelli be held on $150,000 bond, $50,000 higher than the amount requested by prosecutors.

Police arranged for Simonelli to be held at the University of Connecticut Medical Center in Farmington, a secure facility at which he can begin rehabilitating his serious injuries.

"This could have been many counts of manslaughter," Comerford said, explaining his reasons for increasing the bond amount. "This is a very serious matter."

A 15-year-old was seriously injured when Simonelli allegedly crashed into a car driven by her relatives, police said. She was originally transported to Stamford Hospital in critical condition because of a serious head injury, but her condition was quickly upgraded. She suffered a large cut to the left side of her head, above her left eye, that required 10 stitches and will likely leave a scar, court papers said.

A witness who followed Simonelli during his destructive drive told police he would accelerate after smashing into each car, saying that Simonelli was intentionally crashing into other vehicles, court papers show. The witness said Simonelli tried to reverse the box-truck after hitting a full-sized school bus, but the vehicle stalled because of extensive damage.

Three of the high school students on the bus were seriously injured. A male student who sat at the point of impact fractured his left shoulder blade. A female student lost consciousness as a result of the impact and kept passing out after Simonelli's alleged rampage. A second male student suffered a concussion in the crash and was told to refrain from sports for two weeks, court papers said.

Officers interviewed Simonelli's boss at Action Letter, Inc., Ellen Connery, an arrest warrant affidavit shows. She told police she saw Simonelli standing by his work station without his shirt sometime before the alleged rampage.

At one point, he took the keys for the truck and left the Elm Court business. She was unaware of any problems or arguments with Simonelli. In a follow-up interview, she said Simonelli was afraid of losing his job, but she had assured him he was not going to be laid off.

In addition to the initial drug tests, Stamford police investigators had a department mechanic inspect the box-truck. The mechanic could not check several objects because they were damaged, but he concluded the truck was well-maintained.

Simonelli is due back in court Jan. 11.

[check out video]

More Details on Crash Spree

STAMFORD -- An angry 30-year-old Stamford man took a box truck from his workplace after a fight with his girlfriend and left a wake of mangled sedans, vans, parking meters, signs and garbage cans on the city's East Side before smashing into a bus filled with high school students Tuesday afternoon.

The driver, identified by his employer as Christopher Simonelli, crashed into 12 cars on Myrtle Avenue and East Main Street and was listed in critical condition at Stamford Hospital with life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

A female driver of a sedan struck by Simonelli near the corner of East Main and North State streets was also listed in critical condition, police said.

A nursing supervisor at Stamford Hospital told the Associated Press that 22 others were treated for minor injuries.

"He had a cigarette in his mouth and two hands on the wheel," said Dominick Colandro, the 48-year-old owner of Rinaldi's Deli on East Main Street. "He was in a rage. It looked like he was on a mission."

Witnesses described a scene in which an angry-looking Simonelli used the white box truck to hit car after car and take out meters and signs on the sidewalk before ending his crazed drive by running into a school bus.

"There's a tremendous amount of damage," Police Capt. Brian McElligott said. "He hit everything that could be hit."

Criminal charges have not been filed against Simonelli because he is in the hospital, said Stamford Police Chief Robert Nivakoff. The accident is still under investigation.

Several bystanders called 911 to report the string of car accidents around 2 p.m., McElligott said.

Simonelli allegedly got into a fight with his girlfriend and took the truck from his employer, Action Letter Inc., on Elm Court and then raced through the CTTransit bus maintenance facility there. The truck crashed through the rear gate of the CTTransit property and then hurtled north on Myrtle Avenue before turning west on East Main Street.

The accident shut down a quarter-mile stretch of East Main Street from Glenbrook Road to Myrtle Avenue until 7:15 p.m. causing major gridlock throughout the downtown area.

At the scene, firefighters extricated Simonelli from the torn-up box truck. At least a dozen of the 27 Stamford High School students on the bus went to the hospital with minor injuries, police and school officials said.

School district spokeswoman Sarah Arnold said a second bus took the students and a driver to the hospital, where Principal Donna Valentine met them and contacted families of the students on the bus.

Gus Gustavo-Ortiz, a 29-year-old East Main Street resident who lives in an apartment overlooking where the box truck hit the school bus, said he heard a loud bang and looked outside to find the chaos of the accident scene. He walked to the accident site and saw a high school student exit the bus with a bruised face. He helped the student brush broken glass bits from his hair.

He could only see a hand hanging out from the mangled cab of the box truck, moments before firefighters arrived and freed Simonelli.

"I thought this guy was dead," Gustavo-Ortiz said, adding that Simonelli screamed as he was loaded onto the stretcher.

Colandro said from outside his deli he saw hundreds of bystanders gather around the accident site moments after it ended.

Svitlana Shevchuk of Stamford was making a left turn off of Myrtle Avenue and heading westbound under the railroad bridge on East Main Street when Simonelli cracked into the left rear of her green Dodge Caravan, causing minor damage.

Shevchuk had no idea that the part time employee just struck at least three other cars while driving the box truck north on Myrtle.

"We did not see where he was coming from -- he was like a ghost," she said.

After Simonelli hit the minivan he stepped on the gas, Shevchuk said. Just then, UBS employee Robert Jacobs, 34, was running a quick errand in his black Lexus and driving in the opposite direction on East Main Street.

"I saw him hit that car and I thought that was strange that he hit the car and kept on going. Then he turned the truck toward me and accelerated," Jacobs said. For a second Jacobs thought of making a quick dash across East Main and turning left on Crystal Street to avoid the oncoming truck.

"I decided to stay and I put my hands on the wheel and held on for dear life and hope that he didn't kill me. And he didn't kill me," said a shaken Jacobs standing next to his unrecognizable car that was pushed into a dump truck with the front end smashed in. Jacobs said he and another man got out of their cars and chased the box truck up the street until they saw it collide with the school bus and stop. Jacobs said he did not want the guy driving the truck to get away with the hit and run and wanted to take a picture of the truck with his cell phone.

"My neck is killing me," he said moments before he was put on a stretcher and taken to the hospital.

Delivery driver Jason Gabie from Harrison, N.Y. said he was making a delivery to Rinaldi's deli on East Main Street when he saw Simonelli's truck barreling down the street.

He saw the truck crash into Jacob's Lexus and crash into two or three other cars, some coming from the other direction.

Then Gabie said the truck veered onto the sidewalk, tear two parking meters off their posts and then swing around to the other side of the street where it struck the school bus in front of Brake Centers of America, just east of Quintard Terrace.

Gabie said the driver had a cigarette in his mouth and he looked very angry.

"I was scared until he passed me, but I was more scared when he hit the bus," Gabie said.

A CTTransit guard said the box truck came through the open front gate of the bus maintenance facility at the end of Elm Court and crashed through the locked rear gate that exits directly across from La Marqueta grocery store at 54 Myrtle Ave. From there Simonelli turned left and proceeded north on Myrtle.

Next door to the maintenance facility a woman who works for Action Letter, Inc., at 11 Elm Court said that Simonelli is a part time employee and has been working for her company for about six months.

The woman, who would not identify herself, said she had no idea why Simonelli took the truck and had no idea about his breaking up with a girlfriend. She said she told the police the box truck was stolen.

"It is tragic," the woman said. "It is really tragic."

-----------------------

My mother, grandmother, and 4 year old sister were all on their way by this scene and missed it by 5 minutes- I'm so grateful they weren't involved in this bad accident, I would've gone to the scene and finished that f*cker right off.

By the way, I found his facebook!

"Kim Nielsen: every bone in his body is broken he's on life support they don't think he's gonna make it! damn my lil brother!He sliced an artorie and is bleeding bad there tryin to stop it!"

-Photo album of the scene-

Two in Critical Condition Following Crash Spree

Time to say some prayers...there is a bad accident at 869 Main Street, Stamford, on the east side involving a large truck, and a SCHOOL BUS- help has been called in from Greenwich... The road is blocked, many EMS working on scene and many people running to the scene- my mom is there. I hope everyone, especially the children, are safe...

She actually just missed this mess by about five minutes. If my sister hadn't want to look at turtles at the pet store, they would've been caught up in that mess!

I'm waiting for updates, but found News 12 already on the scene, took pictures and had the News Chopper over for a while with a live feed that I screenshot pictures from..

4 PM update: driver of truck in critical condition

STAMFORD -- The driver of a box truck that crashed into 12 cars on Stamford's East Side before smashing into a school bus filled with high school students shortly before 2:30 p.m. and a woman he struck while driving are in critical condition.

Police said the driver of the truck had just gotten into a fight with his girlfriend and then took the truck from his employer on Elm Court.

Police are not releasing the name of the driver, but said he is a 30-year-old Stamford resident.

The injured woman was driving a brown Toyota Corolla and is in critical condition at Stamford Hospital.

The driver of the truck had to be extricated from the vehicle by Stamford Fire & Rescue firefighters.

At least a dozen students on the school bus also were taken to Stamford Hospital for minor injuries.

"He hit everything that could be hit," said Capt. Brian McElligott.

Before coming to a stop on East Main Street near Quintard Terrace, the truck hit multiple parked cars, parking meters and signs.

Dominick Colandro, 48, the owner of Rinaldi's Deli at 872 E. Main St. said he heard a crash near the intersection of East Main Street and Crystal Street and then started to hear more crashes before running out and catching a glimpse of the driver.

"He had a cigarette in his mouth and two hands on the wheel," Colandro said. "He was in a rage. It looked like he was on a mission."

The incident began when the truck was taken from a company on Elm Court and then raced through the CTTransit bus maintenance facility. The truck crashed through the rear gate of the CTTransit property and then headed north on Myrtle Avenue before turning west on East Main Street.

The accident has shut down a quarter-mile stretch of East Main Street from Glenbrook Road to Myrtle Avenue causing major gridlock throughout the downtown area.

Police say the road is expected to remain closed for a few hours.

Police are holding over a shift of officers to address major traffic backups in the area. East Main Street is closed from Myrtle Avenue to Glenbrook Road and police are directing traffic on the opposite side of South State Street to Elm Street.

-Photo album of the scene-