New Britain herald., 1926-10-15
Struck and Fatally. Hurt Running int o
 Highway to Avoid Flames and Explosion.
Manuel c. SerranO of Hartford Meets Death on West Hartford Road Auto Driver Held.

Leaping from his motorcycle as 1t took fire on the West Hartford New Britain road, in front of the Sedg- wick farm, a short distance on the New Britain side of the line, Man uel c. Serrano, aged 2S, of s Francis avenue. Hartford, ran in front of an automobile driven by Julius Carlson, aged 41, of 104 Caya avenue. West Hartford, about 7:30 o'clock this morning and was struck and thrown to the ground with such force that his skull was fractured and he died about five minutes after reaching New Britain General hos pital. Carlson was arrested on a technical charge of nanslaughter and will be in police court tomorrow morning. It Is probable that the charged will be nolled, as pr. John Purney, medical examiner, considers the accident unavoidable.
 Carlson, who Is employed in a local factory, was driving towards New Britain at the rate said to be 20 miles an hour, a short distance behind being a Standard oil Co. truck, driven by Charles F. Wingertsman of 90 Bond street, Hartford. Just before the town line was passed, Serrano, on his motor cycle, passed Carlson and the truck. and a short distance farther, Carlson passed the truck. The speed of the motorcycle was about 25 miles an hour according to Wingertsman.
 "Gallops" Out Into Roadway
 Tn front of the Sedgwick farm, Serrano pulled over to the right and leaped from the motorcycle, which suddenly took fire. Wingertsman stopped his truck and used his fire extinguisher on the motorcycle. Meanwhile, serrano had run Into the roadway at pace described. by wingertsman as "gallop" and Carlson. applying his brakes and sounding his horn pulled to the left as he feared the motorcycle would explode. Serrano continued across the road and Carlsons car struck him, the left front headlight being bent by the impact.
 H. J. Firnhaber Of 30 Highland street, this city, drove past at this time and he and Wingertsman put the injured man into his car. The police were notified and Officer Thomas J. Feeney was detailed to Investigate. He took statements from Wingertsman and Carlson, and the marks on the road showed that Carlson's car was we'll off the travel ed portion of the highway whom At struck Serrano, indicating that Carl son had pulled to the left as far as possible. He did not turn to the right because he feared an explo- sion.
 Serrano Chose Fatal Course
 The police believe Serrano felt the heat of the burning vehicle and was trying to get away from 1t, evidently fearing 1t would explode. Officer Feeney reported that the distance from the spot where Ser rano's glove was found to the point at which the fatality occurred was 30 feet. Had Serrano run in any direction other than that which he took, he would not have been struck. IL is believed he was so excited be- cause of the fire that he ran into the road without realizing his dan ger.
 At police headquarters, Carlson bemoaned the fatality and wept freely. He was in a highly nervous condition as he told the police he had done everything possible to avoid striking Serrano. Relative to insurance, he was not certain that his car is cnvnrhd