Wilmington – The Delaware State Police have identified 52-year-old Yira Graciano-Toala of Wilmington, as the driver of a vehicle that injured a Trooper while he was directing traffic at the intersection of Kirkwood Highway and Farrand Drive, on Monday, February 25, 2019, at approximately 1:48 p.m., according to Public Information Officer, Master Corporal Michael Austin.
Austin said through a variety of investigative measures and leads, detective identified a black, 2011 Cadillac SRX, registered to Graciano-Toala, as the vehicle that injured the Trooper. Through further investigation detectives located Graciano-Toala and confirmed that she was the driver at the time of the incident, said Austin .
She was taken in to custody on Friday, March 1, 2019 and transported to Troop 2, where she was charged with the following offenses:
Disregard a Police Officer’s Signal
Reckless Endangering 1st Degree
Possession of a Deadly Weapon during the Commission of a Felony
Vehicular Assault
Tampering with Physical Evidence
Reckless Driving
She was then arraigned in Justice of the Peace Court #11 and released on $15,600.00 unsecured bail.
Original Story
A Delaware State Trooper is recovering in the hospital after a being dragged down Farrand Drive by an SUV this afternoon, according to Master Cpl. Michael Austin.
The incident began at around 1:45 when Delaware State Police received reports that the traffic lights at Kirkwood Highway and Farrand Drive were malfunctioning.
A Trooper was dispatched to the intersection and reported that the lights were on flash. The Trooper then requested assistance from DelDOT before exiting his vehicle to direct traffic.
Anna Figgs, a woman that said she witnessed the lead up to the incident, says she was behind the striking vehicle at the traffic light when the incident occurred.
Figgs tells First State Update that the black SUV was setting in front of her at the light on Farrand Road, facing northbound in the left turn lane.
The Trooper was directing drivers coming off of Farrand Drive to make right turns only, according to Figgs.
She said when it was her turn to proceed the Trooper began directing traffic to turn right onto Kirkwood Highway in an eastbound direction.
Figgs said the driver of the SUV ignored the Trooper’s commands and tried to turn left in a westbound direction.
“The Trooper was in the middle of the intersection and the black SUV tried to turn left and that’s when the officer ran up to the car to tell them they couldn’t turn that way”, said Figgs.
Figgs said she didn’t see the Trooper get dragged away because the vehicles behind her started honking and she had to turn right.
After making a u-turn and returning to the intersection Figgs noticed that the Trooper and the SUV were no longer in the intersection.
At 1:58 p.m. rescue crews from the Mill Creek Fire Company, along with New Castle County Paramedics responded to the scene for reports of a pedestrian struck.
Upon their arrival, crews found the Trooper suffering from serious injuries. He was dragged one-tenth of a mile before becoming detached and landing in the grass near the entrance of the Kirkwood Gardens neighborhood, according to Austin.
The Trooper was transported to Christiana Hospital where he is listed in stable condition, suffering from non-life-threatening injuries, said Austin.
The SUV subsequently fled the scene after the incident through the neighborhood. Arriving county and state police searched the area but did not locate the vehicle.
“If there was a moment of panic, now’s the time to make things right, come forward, speak to our investigators so that we can resolve this situation and not make a bad situation any worse,” said Austin.
