Three Persons Dead After Car Flees Traffic Stop and Crashes in Danbury
Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith reports that a driver of a car and two passengers died this morning (Saturday) when their car crashed in Connecticut after fleeing from a traffic stop in Putnam County. Two other passengers in the car were hospitalized after the crash.
At about 4:20 A.M. today, a Putnam County deputy sheriff was in a marked cruiser on patrol along U.S. Route 6 in Southeast, about three-quarters of a mile from the New York-Connecticut state line. The deputy observed a car travelling eastbound on the highway being operated erratically and swerving over the center-line of the road.
Suspecting that the driver of the car was intoxicated, the deputy turned on his lights and siren in an attempt to pull the car over. The driver did not comply, however, and continued to drive eastbound toward Connecticut, with the deputy following, initially at speeds below the posted speed limit.
When the suspect’s car was about a quarter mile from the state line, it accelerated. The deputy continued to follow the car across the state line and radioed the Sheriff’s Office headquarters to notify the Danbury Police Department to be on the lookout for the car. About three-quarters of a mile into Connecticut, the deputy decelerated and turned off his siren. The suspect’s car continued to accelerate away and, about 15 seconds later, it ran off the roadway and crashed into a metal utility pole at the intersection of Mill Plain Road (U.S. Route 6) and Milestone Road in Danbury.
The car, a white Nissan Maxima four-door sedan, was occupied by five persons, including a male driver, two male passengers and two female passengers. The driver and male passengers were killed upon impact. The two females were injured, and first-aid was administered to them by the deputy, with help from passers-by. The women were transported to Danbury Hospital with injuries to their extremities that are not believed to be life-threatening. The identities of the victims have not been released.
The sheriff’s deputy was not physically injured in the incident. He was taken to Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel for observation and then released.
The Danbury Police Department is investigating the crash. The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an internal review of the events preceding it. A preliminary review indicates that the deputy followed the suspect’s car for about 1½ minutes over a distance of about 1½ miles, during which the average speed of the deputy’s cruiser was clocked at slightly less than 65 miles per hour, with top speeds of over 80 miles per hour sustained for about 15 seconds. The crash speed of the other car has not yet been determined.
