A 26-year-old Hartford man was killed in an ATV crash in the city Thursday night.
Hartford police officers responded to the scene just after 5:30 p.m. after the driver of a quad going north on Newfield Avenue lost control and hit a utility pole and two parked vehicles.
Police identified the man who was killed as Tyquann Whitehead.
He was unresponsive when police arrived at the scene and Whitehead was rushed to Hartford Hospital but died a short time later, according to police.
A witness, Christian Gonzales, noted that he didn't see the driver wearing a helmet.
"He was doing a wheelie, I guess, and lost control some way, somehow and he fell off the bike, hit the pole and the bike- the quad went right into the car that was parked in the driveway," Gonzales said.
Gonzales said having ATVs driving around the neighborhood is common during hot weather.
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"I looked and he was upside down, floor down and he was on the curb and everyone ran to him," Gonzales said. "Everyone ran to him and he was just gone, he didn’t move, he didn’t respond."
The group the man rides with is known by Hartford police.
"We've been having an issue with this in the City of Hartford for several years now and it is without a doubt one of the greater complaints that we get in the summer time," Deputy Police Chief Foley said about ATVs in the city. "This is just a morbid reminder that it is much more than a public nuisance; that obviously it can be deadly."
Police said this was the first fatal ATV accident this year.
"They tried to turn him over, you know, moving him, slapping his face as soon as the cops came, even the cops said ‘I have no pulse’ and they did CPR and everything-- and nothing," Gonzales said.
