West Haven Driver Arrested For 2017 Fatal Hit-And-Run

Five years after Shaneka Woods was struck and killed by a car while crossing Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, city police have arrested the driver allegedly responsible for the fatal hit-and-run.

Top city cops announced that recent arrest Friday midday during a press conference held on the third floor of police headquarters at 1 Union Ave.

Standing alongside over a dozen of Woods’ quietly weeping family members and friends, Police Chief Karl Jacobson and Assistant Police Chief Bertram Ettienne said that city cops arrested on Sept. 21 a 33-year-old West Haven man who they believe is responsible for fleeing the scene after striking and killing Woods with his car back in 2017.

That fatal hit-and-run took place on Sept. 23, 2017 at around 2:58 a.m., Ettienne said, when Woods, a 38-year-old New Havener, ​“was struck and killed by a motor vehicle while trying to cross Ella T. Grasso Boulevard and Orange Avenue.”

The operator of the vehicle fled the scene, Ettienne said. City cops found the suspect vehicle unoccupied in West Haven soon thereafter.

After an ​“extensive investigation,” the assistant chief continued, city cops were able to secure an arrest warrant for the 33-year-old West Haven man on Sept. 20 on a charge of felony evading. Cops arrested him the following day.

“In New Haven there is zero tolerance for people who leave the scene of an accident,” regardless of whether or not the crash is fatal, Ettienne said.

“We will pursue you and we will apprehend you. We do not forget these cases,” he said.

Woods’s sister, Kim Ebron, said that, with this arrest these five years later, Woods’s family members ​“can finally sleep a little bit better.” This provides ​“a little bit of closure.”

“My sister is truly missed,” she continued through tears. ​“There are no words I can use to describe how much we miss her.” She said that Woods was the second oldest of five siblings and took care of their mother before the fatal crash. ​“She had a good heart.”

Ebron recalled her sister’s favorite creature, a butterfly, Friday, which she got tattooed on her right forearm. She said several other family members have also gotten tattoos in her memory. Some of Woods’s family members wore white t‑shirts depicting their loved one’s face. 

Friday’s fatal-hit-and-run arrest announcement comes a little more than a week after city cops announced that they had recently made arrests in two other fatal hit-and-run cases from 2021.

Click on the video below to watch Friday’s press conference in full.