EXETER, R.I. (WPRI) – A Connecticut man accused of hitting and killing a man who was walking on Ten Rod Road in Exeter Friday night has turned himself in.
Rhode Island State Police arrested Jeremy Flippo of Voluntown at 3 p.m. Sunday at their Hope Valley barracks. He is being charged with leaving the scene of an accident, death resulting, and was released on bail after being arraigned before a justice of the peace.
Troopers said Flippo was driving west on Route 165 in Exeter near Kings Crossing when he struck 20-year-old Christian Costigan of Exeter a few minutes before 10 p.m. Friday. Costigan was walking on the shoulder with a friend when he was hit.
Flippo, 26, allegedly fled the scene west towards Connecticut. Costigan died at Kent County Hospital.
Sunday, the investigation led Troopers to Flippo’s home, where they found a damaged vehicle matching a description of the one involved in the crash. They seized it and obtained a warrant for Flippo’s arrest. Flippo later turned himself in.
Costigan was a CCRI student studying music and hoped to sing in the college chorus in the fall, according to CCRI staff.
The community at CCRI are now mourning his sudden, and tragic death.
“We’re going to miss him terribly and it won’t be the same without him,” Cheri Markward, Chair of CCRI’s performing arts department tells Eyewitness News Sunday evening.
Markward says Costigan was a talented percussionist with a passion for making people laugh.
“Every student and teacher I’ve spoken to says he was the nicest, sweetest, most compassionate person around,” added Markward. “We are devastated. We’re a close knit department [and] the students are very close to each other. Facebook has just been alive with the grieving and the disbelief and wanting to do something to help.”
Markward says the school is collecting photos of Costigan and plan to make a permanent memorial at the school in his memory.
Flippo was released Sunday on ten-thousand dollars bail. If he’s convicted, he could face up to fifteen years in prison.
