A Waterbury teen charged in connection with a collision involving two pedestrians has been accused of intentionally crashing into the women over an alleged love triangle that has sparked a multi-year feud.
Melany Camanero, 19, of Waterbury was arrested Thursday on attempted murder, first-degree assault, evading responsibility and motor vehicle charges in connection with an Oct. 10, 8:05 p.m. crash near Walnut Ave. 38, where two women, ages 22 and 21 at the time, were pinned against a Dodge Ram parked on the side of the street, according to the affidavit prepared by a Waterbury Police Department detective.
One of the victims, who was 21 and has since turned 22, was in a relationship with Camanero’s boyfriend and claimed the teen had been harassing her since then, the statement said. The boyfriend, 20-year-old Nathan Diaz-Melendez, was arrested by Waterbury police a few weeks after the crash after investigators learned he allegedly punched both victims at a home on Walnut Avenue shortly before the crash, according to reports the affidavit. He faces two counts of third-degree assault and one count of disorderly conduct.
According to the affidavit, Diaz-Melendez allegedly started dating one of the women about three years ago after breaking up with Camanero. A year later, the woman found out he was seeing Camanero again, which led to her ending the relationship.
Since then, Camanero allegedly began harassing the victim, sending her derogatory text messages and creating social media accounts to post “nasty comments” about her, police wrote. The woman also alleged that Camanero would sometimes park her car along the road from her home and stay there for hours, according to the affidavit. She also claimed that at one point Camanero called her and threatened to cut off her head and give it to her mother, the affidavit said.
On the day of the crash, the ex-girlfriend was with her friend at Westfarms Mall, where they saw Camanero, who allegedly made a rude comment to them, the affidavit said. The two told police they ignored the teen and walked away.
Later that day, the couple went to visit someone on Walnut Avenue and discovered that Diaz-Melendez was there, unbeknownst to them, the warrant affidavit said. This led to an argument between him and his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend, who asked why he allegedly offered someone $100 to hit her, according to the affidavit.
The friend told investigators Diaz-Melendez then said, “I’ll punch you myself” before allegedly punching her and his ex-girlfriend when the latter intervened, the warrant affidavit said. Before the women left the house, the girlfriend told police she allegedly heard him say, “You’re going to find out,” which she took as a threat. The ex-girlfriend claimed she heard Diaz-Melendez calling someone on the phone and telling them to “come here now,” who she assumed was Camanero, the warrant affidavit said.
The two women went outside when the friend called her stepfather and told him they had been attacked and asked if he could pick them up. Once he arrived, they approached his pickup and spoke to him while standing on the street.
According to the affidavit, both women saw Camanero approach the area in a white Honda Accord before she allegedly accelerated and drove directly toward them. The boyfriend yelled at the ex-girlfriend to “watch out,” but they were unable to get out of the way and ended up pinned against the stepfather’s truck, the affidavit said.
The ex-girlfriend told investigators she allegedly saw Camanero and another person get out of the vehicle and flee the area, police wrote. As they did so, the second person allegedly told Camanero, “You weren’t supposed to hit them with the car, you were supposed to come and fight,” the warrant affidavit said.
Both victims were rushed to Saint Mary’s Hospital, where the ex-girlfriend was diagnosed with a broken jaw and abrasions to her head and body. She is in a serious but stable condition and has since been released from hospital.
Her friend was in critical condition and had suffered an open pelvic fracture, requiring her to be intubated and transferred to Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford for surgery.
Police said this week that the friend remains in the hospital. When investigators spoke to her six weeks after the crash, she told them she had undergone numerous surgeries and that her wounds had not been closed, the warrant affidavit said. She said her wounds were cleaned three times a week when she was taken to the operating room and given anesthesia for the procedures. She also said she needed a colostomy bag because her injuries were so severe that her abdominal wall was damaged.
The friend told authorities she would remain at St. Francis Hospital until her wounds healed, after which she would be transferred to a rehabilitation center where she would have to learn to walk again, according to the affidavit. At that point, she told police she could only stand with the help of the hospital’s medical team.
At the scene of the crash, police said they allegedly found a bag in the Honda Accord containing Camanero’s driver’s license and EBT card, the affidavit said. Investigators also discovered the vehicle was registered to Diaz-Melendez’s mother, police wrote.
When authorities examined the vehicle’s supplemental restraint system, they reportedly found that the driver had not braked in the seconds before the crash, the warrant affidavit said. The data collected was “indicative” of Camanero’s “intentional heading toward” the victims and “accelerating toward them,” police wrote.
“The history between these parties and this incident demonstrate a clear, deliberate and malicious act of violence with no regard for human life,” a detective wrote.
Camanero remains jailed on a $1 million bond and will appear in Waterbury Superior Court on Wednesday.
