State v. Santiago

Citations

• 206 Conn. App. 390

Syllabus

Convicted of various crimes in connection with his actions toward two police officers when they attempted a stop of his motor vehicle, the defendant appealed to this court. The police officers, L and M, separately responded to an early morning call regarding a suspicious individual in a silver car who appeared to be attempting to break into vehicles in a residential neighborhood. On their arrival, the officers encountered the defendant driving a vehicle matching that description and followed him, each in their own marked cruiser, down a dead end road. Near the end of the road, the defendant turned his car around. After an unsuccessful attempt to make a vehicle stop, L angled his cruiser across the road to try to prevent the defendant from leaving the area. The defendant drove over the curb and around L's vehicle. M then engaged his lights and siren and similarly angled his cruiser across the road to try and block the defendant. The defendant hit M's cruiser while attempting to drive around it. Assuming that the crash had disabled the defendant's vehicle, both L and M exited their cruisers and ordered the defendant to shut off his vehicle. Instead, the defendant reversed quickly toward L, who had to kick off the side of the defendant's car to avoid being hit by it. The defendant again advanced his car toward M, who was then standing near the back of his vehicle. The defendant briefly stopped his car between the two officers. After unsuccessfully trying to open the defen- dant's car door, L used the butt of his gun to break open the driver's side window of the defendant's vehicle, in an attempt to grab him. The defendant again quickly reversed and L stumbled out of the car's path. M, believing that L had been hit, fired a single shot at the defendant's vehicle in an attempt to disable it. The defendant then drove around M's cruiser and continued approximately one quarter of a mile down the road before his vehicle broke down. The defendant exited the vehicle and ran in