State v. Haughwout

Citations

• 339 Conn. 747

Syllabus

The defendant was convicted of one count of interfering with an officer, one count of disobeying the direction of an officer while increasing the speed of a motor vehicle in an attempt to escape or elude, and two counts of assault of a peace officer in connection with two separate incidents between him and certain police officers. During the first inci- dent, an officer, S, turned his cruiser into a parking lot adjacent to a library at about 9 p.m. S observed the defendant walking quickly from a picnic table near the library to a parked vehicle in the lot. Once in the vehicle, the defendant took a few moments to set up a dashboard 748 NOVEMBER, 2021 339 Conn. 747 State v. Haughwout camera in order to record the incident. Shortly thereafter, the defendant drove his vehicle toward the exit, S turned his cruiser's light bar on briefly, and S motioned with his hand for the defendant to pull alongside the cruiser, which he did. After a brief dialogue, S told the defendant to put his vehicle in park. The defendant ignored S's command and abrubtly began to drive toward the exit. S turned on his lightbar again and pulled his cruiser behind the defendant's vehicle. The defendant stopped, shouted to S, ''hey asshole,'' and then proceeded to exit the parking lot and to drive north on a local road. Another officer, who had just arrived at the scene, and S pursued the defendant, and the defendant stopped a short distance up the road. After the defendant continued to argue with the officers and declined a request to provide his operator's license and registration, the officers let him leave the scene and applied for an arrest warrant. The second incident occurred when the defendant, in response to being informed by the police that they had obtained a warrant for his arrest, arrived at the police station. The defendant brought a video camera with him and began recording. The defendant was told by an officer, V, that he was in custody and under arrest. V also told the defendant tha