A man accused of going about 100 mph when he allegedly fled from a state trooper in Vernon over the summer is facing charges after an automated license plate reader led to his arrest.
Erick Resto, 22, of East Hartford turned himself in on Monday at the Troop C barracks in Tolland in connection with a warrant charging him with second-degree reckless endangerment, failure to display plates, reckless driving, engaging police in pursuit, illegal tints and failure to keep right, according to Connecticut State Police.
The arrest warrant affidavit indicates that a trooper was patrolling Route 83 on July 18 in the evening hours when he spotted a driver in an Infiniti Q50 pulling out of a driveway. After apparently seeing the trooper, the driver allegedly changed his direction and went north instead of getting behind the cruiser, the warrant affidavit said. The trooper noted in the warrant that the vehicle allegedly had no front license plate and windows with a “far darker” tint than what is legal.
The trooper wrote in the warrant affidavit that he found the maneuver suspicious, so he made a U-turn. He then encountered the same driver now heading south, so he made another U-turn and tried to catch up to the Infiniti.
According to the warrant affidavit, the Infiniti driver allegedly accelerated and began crossing over the yellow center lines to pass other drivers, “even on curves and hill crests.” At one point, the trooper alleged that he was going about 90 mph in a 35 mph zone but the Infiniti was still pulling away, the warrant affidavit said. The trooper estimated that the vehicle was doing 100 mph or more.
Upon approaching the intersection of Pitkin Road, the trooper said he lost sight of the Infiniti and had only gotten the first two letters of its license plate, according to the warrant affidavit. He reached out to the Vernon Police Department in an effort to identify the driver using an automated license plate reader.
According to the warrant affidavit, Vernon police were able to find a Q50 that had gotten onto Interstate 84 West about 20 seconds before the trooper’s license plate passed the license plate reader. The vehicle was registered to Resto, who was arrested in April and accused of engaging police in pursuit when troopers tried to stop him on Interstate 384 in Manchester, the warrant affidavit said. The trooper said he was also able to identify Resto using a previous mugshot, the warrant affidavit said.
Resto is free on a $10,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Rockville Superior Court on Dec. 16.
