Martin Gavin/REUTERS
Police in Conn. identify the fatal victim of a moped crash as the uncle of Aaron Hernandez.
BRISTOL, Conn. – A city man killed in a moped crash on Central Street early Saturday is an uncle of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case told The Hartford Courant.
Shortly after 1 a.m., emergency personnel responded to the intersection of Central Street and Church Avenue for a crash involving a moped. Upon arrival, firefighters began treating the driver, Robert J. Valentine, 49, for a life-threatening head injury, police said.
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A Life Star medical helicopter was called to the scene, but Valentine, of Stafford Avenue, died before he could be taken to the hospital, police said.
Valentine was the brother of Terri Hernandez, Aaron Hernandez’s mother, the source said.
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An investigation determined that Valentine was driving north on Central Street near Church Avenue when he struck the curb on the right side of the road, police said. He was thrown from the moped and landed in a driveway where he struck a curb. Valentine was not wearing a helmet, police said.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call Bristol police at (860) 584-3030.
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Hernandez has been charged with the June 17 murder of Odin Lloyd, a man who was dating his fiancé’s sister. Prosecutors say that surveillance footage from the former New England Patriot’s home in North Attleborough, Mass., shows him carrying a gun resembling the murder weapon out to his car before the shooting and back into his house minutes after his car was seen leaving the nearby park where Lloyd’s body was found.