Father Killed In Crash Weeks Before Baby’s Due Date, Community Rallies

MERIDEN, CT — The community is rallying around the family of a man who was killed in a motorcycle crash last week in Meriden – a month before his second daughter was due to be born.

Maxwell Lafayette, 32, of Meriden, is survived by his wife Amanda LaFayette and his 1-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Amanda is due to deliver the couple’s second daughter within the next three weeks, according to a GoFundMe campaign that was launched in support of the family.

The crash happened around 5:50 a.m. on Oct. 2 at the intersection of Colony Street at Camp Street. Maxwell Lafayette was operating a 2008 Honda VTX 1800 and traveling north on Colony Street, according to police.

A 2003 Nissan Altima was traveling west on Camp Street and making a left turn onto Colony Street when the motorcycle hit the driver side of the Nissan, police said. Lafayette was taken to MidState Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Amanda LaFayette said the other driver went through a red light, according to the GoFundMe page.

“My husband was such a kind, humble, and gentle person,” Amanda LaFayette wrote in the post on GoFundMe. “He would be so exhausted from work but would drop everything to help anyone in need with no questions asked. His laugh and smile were infectious and just a small part of a long, long list of why I fell in love with him. He touched many hearts because of the man he was. He was the ultimate father and husband. He did not deserve this untimely death, especially taken by the hands of someone else.”

Maxwell LaFayette was a graduate of Francis T. Maloney High School and worked as a CNC Machinist at Supermill LLC of Berlin.

He was a member of Connecticut’s Most Wanted Motorcycle Club, and Meriden Elks Lodge 35, according to his obituary.

“He loved riding his motorcycle,” the obituary reads. “Although short lived, his favorite roles were husband and father. He was a very caring, selfless, and remarkable man. His laugh and smile were infectious. To know Max, was to love him.”

More than $8,700 has been raised within the first four days of the GoFundMe campaign, as of Tuesday evening (Update: More than $14,000 has been raised as of Saturday morning).

For more information, or to make a donation, visit the GoFundMe page here.