The Quaker Hill man accused of killing a Connecticut College student in a hit-and-run crash last December pleaded not guilty Thursday in New London Superior Court.  

James "Jamie" Sposito, 25, of 6 Clark Place, was arraigned in the death of 20-year-old Ahmad Anique Ashraf.

He was arrested on Jan. 21 after a lengthy investigation by New London police and charged with second-degree manslaughter, misconduct with a motor vehicle, tampering with a witness, tampering with physical evidence and evading responsibility.

Sposito, wearing a dress suit, appeared briefly before Judge Omar A. Williams. He did not speak during the two-minute-long proceeding. His attorney, Michael L. Chambers, entered a not guilty plea on his client's behalf.

State prosecutor Rafael Bustamante asked that Sposito not be allowed to drive without a valid license, which Williams granted.

Sposito is accused of hitting Ashraf, who was found unresponsive on the northbound side of Route 32 outside the college early on Dec. 18.

Police identified the vehicle involved in the crash shortly after it occurred.

Sposito initially told police that he thought he had struck a deer on Route 32 on his way home from a friend's house in New London, according to an arrest warrant written by New London patrolman Jeremy Zelinski, a trained accident investigator.

A fellow Connecticut College student, Emma Radest, told police that Ashraf had been at her apartment on the night of the crash, drinking and celebrating an exhibition with other film students.

She said Ashraf had left the apartment at 1:15 a.m., then returned because he forgot his backpack, she said. He left again at about 2 a.m.

Ashraf was found unresponsive, lying against the curb, a few minutes later when a passerby saw him and called police.

He was pronounced dead at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital. The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and torso.

Police found the lower grille of a Chrysler 200 sedan at the scene of the crash, and later located a matching vehicle parked in front of Sposito's house, less than 3 miles away from the accident scene, according to the arrest warrant.

The sedan had extensive damage to the passenger side hood and windshield, a missing lower grille and hair, fibers and blood on the windshield, roof and trunk.

Friends who saw Sposito on the night before the crash told police that he had picked them up in the Chrysler about 7 p.m.

One of those friends, Tyler McDonald, told police that they spent the night drinking beer at three different New London bars before Sposito drove them to McDonald's mother's house.

Sposito left alone at about 1:30 a.m., McDonald told police. He called McDonald the next morning and said he hit "something" near Connecticut College.

Sposito told McDonald he thought it was a deer, but that he saw nothing in his rearview mirror and so continued driving home, according to the warrant.

Another friend, Sara Chaude, told police that Sposito called her at about 2:05 a.m. on Dec. 18 and yelled that he had just been in a crash. He told her, "I don't know what happened. It happened so fast. It was pitch black."

Chaude went to Sposito's house, where she said he smelled of alcohol and was pacing back and forth.

Sposito said he had found the strap of a backpack on his car window and told her, "I think I hit a person," Chaude told police.

The warrant says Sposito told Chaude to "withhold information from the police and alter her version of events in attempt to mislead" them.

Chaude also told police that Sposito asked her not to tell the police he had been drinking, according to the warrant.

Sposito has no prior criminal record in Connecticut, but has a conviction in Massachusetts for resisting arrest and one in Maine for unlawful drug possession, according to a court document.

Sposito is out on a $150,000 bond. His case was continued to March 8.

m.shanahan@theday.com

Twitter: @Martha_Shan