Man charged in fatal Enfield crash appears in court

ENFIELD, Conn. (AP) - An Enfield man charged with causing a car wreck that killed two people and injured two others made his first court appearance in the case Wednesday.

While it was the Kyle Berry's first court appearance in this case, it was the third time he has been in front of this particular Judge Howard Sheinblum in Enfield Court, and the judge had harsh words for the man who stood before him charged with one count of evading responsibility in the deadly crash.

"This tragedy never would have happened. Those two people wouldnt be dead," one person said.

The harsh words spilled out of the courthouse and into the parking lot with a family defending a man who witnesses say crashed into a car Tuesday morning, killing two people.

"He's hurting. He did something very, very terrible," said Robyn Berry. "I'm his sister and yes, he is a good person that did a foolish and terrible thing."

Police say the 46-year-old Berry had been at a bar in Somers and left at the same time as four people in a red car. A witness told police he saw both cars speeding down Route 191, then saw Berry's pickup hit the red car, send it flipping into a tree. Three people were thrown from the car.

East Windsor residents, 57-year-old Michael Kennedy and 34-year-old Colleen Caruso, died on the scene.

Joann Olden was trapped inside the car, upside down. Her father got the frightening phone call.

"Your daughter's in the hospital," said John Oehler, father. "It took 20 minutes to cut her out of the car."

Berry confessed to police that he turned his truck around, went past the crash scene, went home and fell asleep. For that he's charged with evading responsibility.

Judge Howard Sheinblum remembered he previously sentenced Berry to a year and a half in prison for kicking a cat to death. Police are still investigating what happened on Route 191 and what may have happened at the bar beforehand.

Berry's sister says he was friendly with the four people in that red car.

"Kyle did not purposely run these people off the road," his sister said. "He didn't purposely do that. He knew these people."

Joanna Olden will be ok, and her father knows he's luckier than the families of the two victims who died.

"The families of Colleen and Mickey...normal human beings don't do that," Oehler said.

The judge set bail at $1 million. Enfield Police have made it clear there could be more charges filed against Berry as the investigation into the crash continues.