Teen arrested in crash that injured Uber driver, Sacred Heart students in Fairfield

A Sacred Heart student has been arrested in a crash that left five teens, including himself, and an Uber driver seriously injured, police said.

An Uber driver and five students – four young women and a young man -- were seriously hurt in the two-car crash near Sacred Heart University early on the morning of Friday, Sept. 29.

Police said they received several 911 calls around 12:04 a.m. and police officers found an Audi and a Toyota Corolla had been involved in the crash.

An Uber driver was driving the 2021 white Toyota Corolla, transporting four female Sacred Heart University students, according to police. They said it appeared that the young women were returning to campus when the crash happened.

The male Sacred Heart University student was the only person in the 2018 black Audi, which had flipped over, and he was taken to St. Vincent’s Medical Center, in critical condition, police said. That driver, 19-year-old Tyler Delk, was arrested on Tuesday.

The Corolla was going across Park Avenue to Jefferson Street and Delk was going east on Jefferson Street when it hit a curb, which pushed the car into the westbound lane and the vehicles collided, police said.

Delk was going 85 miles per hour when he lost control of his vehicle. Police said he was also driving under the influence, and was determined to be 10 times over the legal limit, which is 0.02% for a person under the age of 21.

"85 miles per hour would be considered dangerous and fast and reckless on a highway. So residential areas like that, in between a campus like that, is extremely dangerous and resulted in a horrific car crash," Fairfield Police Lt. Ed Nook said.

Police arrested Delk, who is from South Orange, New Jersey, on Tuesday. He faces charges for driving under the influence, five counts of assault with a motor vehicle and five counts of reckless endangerment. He was released on a $250,000 bond and will appear in court when he is medically cleared to do so.

According to an arrest warrant obtained by NBC Connecticut, Delk was borrowing his roommate's car, who got an AirTag notification about his car.

Nook said they don't historically have problems in this area and they work hard to enforce the speed limit.

All of the students have since been released from the hospital. The crash remains under investigation.

Sacred Heart University released a statement, saying the school is unable to provide additional information because this is an ongoing police investigation.

"The University community continues to pray for all six individuals involved in the accident as they recover. We are working with the returning students individually to develop a plan to resume their studies based on their progress," the statement from the school reads.