Paul Nadziejko Photo
A man fleeing police crashed a Mercedes Benz into a Front Street condo, then was pulled from his vehicle after the engine caught fire.
The incident occurred Sunday around 2:15 p.m.
It began when a person who spends a lot of time on the streets, and is known to police, called 911 for help, then flagged down a passing officer. The person said a driver had pulled up at Ferry and Chambers Streets and pointed a gun.
The victim gave “a perfect description” of the car, the license plate, and the gun, which was a rifle, said top Fair Haven cop Sgt. Michael Fumiatti.
An officer spotted a car parked a block away, at Ferry and Saltonstall. The officer thought that was the car the victim meant.
“No, not that one. That one,” the victim said, pointing to another parked vehicle.
The driver of that vehicle then pulled away Officers followed, over the Ferry Street Bridge into the Annex, back into Fair Haven …
… where the driver smashed into a condo at the corner of Front and Second Street.
The car wasn’t traveling fast enough for the air bag to deploy upon crashing, according to Fumiatti.
At that point, Fumiatti said, the officers resorted to “high-risk motor vehicle stop” training they received after a controversial incident last year, in which a Hamden officer rushed up to a car and started shooting at two unarmed occupants on Argyle Street. They were trained not to rush up to the car, but rather to stand at a distance and order the driver to raise his hands and come outside.
An officer spoke through a megaphone ordering the driver to leave the car. (The above video captures the scene.)
The driver did raise his hands. He did not come out, according to Fumiatti.
At that point smoke was emerging from the engine filling the interior. The police were worried the man could die, Fumiatti said, so officers decided to approach the car after all and pull him out. Aware the man had a rifle, three officers approached, their own rifles in hand.
A small crowd watched from a park across the street. Some questioned aloud why the officers needed to be armed.
The officers tried first to break a back window to let out the smoke. When that didn’t work, they went to the passenger side door. It was unlocked. They opened it and retrieved the rifle from the seat.
Then they went to the driver side and opened that door. They pulled the man out. The man was “not cooperating,” but “but he did not fight,” according to Fumiatti. Fumiatti said no one was hurt.
Firefighters then arrived on the scene. They approached the car, a Mercedes, located the source of the fire in the engine compartment, and put it out with fire extinguishers, said Assistant Fire Chief Mark Vendetto. Vendetto said the fire and building departments subsequentlly inspected the house and found only minor damage. No one was inside the house at the time of the crash.
Next-door neighbor Paul Nadziejko watched, and recorded, the scene as it unfolded. (He took the above video.)
He hadn’t heard any sirens.The sound of squealing tires, then a crash, brought him outside.
“The police carefully approached the car with guns drawn,” Nadziejko told the Independent. “The police carefully got the driver out of the car, handcuffed him and brought him to a police car without incident. … [The] driver sat in the police car while police and fire secured the scene. Shortly thereafter, the police drove away with the suspect.
“Police were very professional in handling the situation and subsequent arrest.”
“I am a lifelong resident for over 40 years and I have had a problem with New Haven PD Officers since I was a child. If I am writing to you commending them for their actions that should speak volumes,” stated another neighbor in an email message to the Independent. (She asked to remain anonymous.) “The way that they handled this incident needs to be acknowledged and told for the benefit of the community.”.
The driver, a 30-year-old Naugatuck man, said he had ingested packets of drugs and needed medical attention as a result, according to Fumiatti. He was taken to the hospital.
Officers found heroin and crack cocaine packaged for sale, Fumiatti said. The driver also has two outstanding warrants from other jurisdictions.
The driver was charged with:
• threatening 1st degree
• criminal possession of a firearm
* weapon in a motor vehicle
• possession of a controlled substance
• possession of narcotics with intent to sell
• engaging police in pursuit
• reckless driving
• reckless endangerment 1st
• interfering with police investigation
• possession of drug paraphernalia.
• illegally obtaining prescription drugs.
Paul Nadziejko Photo
Front & Second, later on Sunday.