Prosecutors say Andrew Hitchcock is expected to consider a plea before his next court date on June 1.
BETHEL, Conn. — A Bethel man is charged in a fatal hit-and-run after police said he struck a neighbor who was crossing Nashville Road to check his mailbox on Sept. 22, then drove home without stopping as the man lay hurt near the roadside.
The case matters now because it has moved from a long-running local investigation into a possible plea. Prosecutors told a judge this week that Andrew Hitchcock, 66, is likely to accept a state offer and be sentenced on June 1. He is charged with evading responsibility in a fatal accident in the death of Michael Rieve, 65, a Bethel resident who was hit outside his home and died the next day after being taken to two hospitals.
Police said the crash happened the night of Sept. 22, 2025, on the 140 block of Nashville Road, a residential stretch where Rieve lived. According to the arrest warrant, Rieve was crossing the street around 8 p.m. to get his mail when a northbound vehicle hit him. Officers were sent to the scene at about 8:11 p.m. after a passing motorist called 911 and reported a man lying near the side of the road. When officers arrived, they found Rieve unresponsive with injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle. He was first taken to Danbury Hospital and then transferred to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead the next day. The court file says the driver kept going after the impact. In court this week, Assistant State’s Attorney Matthew Knopf said Hitchcock was “likely” to accept the state’s offer, giving the case its clearest sign yet that it may be nearing resolution.
The public record lays out a detailed evidence trail that investigators say led from the roadside to Hitchcock’s white Infiniti G37. Police said video from a Tesla parked in Rieve’s driveway captured the crash and showed the victim crossing to his mailbox when the car struck him. The warrant says the driver appeared to apply the brakes just before impact but continued north on Nashville Road instead of stopping. Investigators wrote that Rieve was lifted by the vehicle and briefly went airborne before landing near a nearby driveway. His shoes were found a short distance from where his body came to rest. At the scene, police also recovered parts of a side-view mirror, including a white plastic cover that matched the color of the suspect car shown in the footage. A second video, from a gas station on Greenwood Avenue, showed a northbound white sedan passing through the intersection from Chestnut Street after the crash. Investigators said the car appeared to have uneven light on the right passenger side, suggesting headlight damage. Police have not publicly released an estimated speed, toxicology information or any indication that other charges are planned.
The case drew steady attention in Bethel because the arrest did not come quickly, even though police say the crash scene produced both video and physical evidence. The collision happened Sept. 22. The day after, while canvassing north of the Greenwood Avenue and Chestnut Street intersection, officers said they found a white Infiniti G37 parked at the Plumtree Heights condo complex with damage and markings consistent with the crash. The car, according to the warrant, had a damaged side-view mirror and was missing the same plastic cover type found on Nashville Road. Police later seized the vehicle and obtained a search warrant. Further testing, Bethel police said, confirmed it was the car that struck Rieve. That work, along with the video review and canvass, led to a warrant and Hitchcock’s arrest on Dec. 6. The lag between the crash and the arrest helps explain why the matter remained active for months after Rieve’s death, and why this week’s hearing marked a significant step in the case rather than a routine calendar appearance.
Hitchcock is charged with evading responsibility in a fatal accident, a charge that in Connecticut covers drivers who leave the scene without stopping to help or notify authorities. Court records show he was released after his Dec. 6 arrest on a $75,000 bond. During a brief appearance Monday in state Superior Court in Danbury, his lawyer, Dan Thibodeau, told the judge that the state had made an offer and asked for several weeks to discuss it with his client. Judge Mary Elizabeth Reid set the next court date for June 1. Knopf said Hitchcock is likely to accept the offer and be sentenced that day. The exact terms of the proposed plea agreement were not described in the reporting reviewed Wednesday, and prosecutors did not publicly detail what sentence they plan to seek. No trial date has been announced. The open questions now are narrow but important: whether Hitchcock will formally plead guilty or no contest, what punishment the court will impose, and whether the judge will accept the negotiated outcome.
For neighbors, the facts in the warrant turn an ordinary evening errand into the center of a fatal case. Rieve was not walking along a highway or crossing a distant road in darkness after leaving a bar or event. Police said he was on the street where he lived, moving across the pavement to check his mailbox outside his own home. The Tesla parked in the driveway became a key witness after the crash, and the passing motorist who called 911 was the first person known to have stopped. The warrant says about 10 minutes passed between the collision and that emergency call. Bethel police later said it was quickly determined that the victim had been struck by a northbound vehicle that fled before officers arrived. Those details, simple and stark, are why the case has carried unusual weight in local coverage. It is not only a prosecution over a traffic death. It is also a case built around the allegation that a driver saw or should have seen what happened, then chose to keep going instead of stopping on a residential road where a man had just been hit.
As of Wednesday, Hitchcock remained charged in the death of Rieve, and the next milestone is June 1 in Danbury Superior Court, when prosecutors say he is expected to decide whether to accept a plea and bring the case to sentencing.
Author note: Last updated April 15, 2026.