A man has been arrested and accused of intentionally crashing into a police officer in Newington during an escape attempt in March, injuring the officer.
Luis Antonio Lopez, 22, of Wethersfield turned himself in on Wednesday in connection with a warrant charging him with assault on public safety personnel, first-degree reckless endangerment, evading responsibility in operation of a motor vehicle, reckless driving, disobeying the signal of an officer and failure to display lights, according to the Newington Police Department.
The charges stem from an incident on March 19 when officers spotted a vehicle around 9:30 p.m. that had been involved in multiple incidents over several days in which the driver allegedly refused to stop for police when they tried to pull the car over. The driver was seen entering the drive-thru of a Chick-fil-A at 3240 Berlin Turnpike.
Police tried to stop the vehicle and the driver allegedly drove into an officer intentionally, according to police. Police said the officer was struck and suffered minor injuries.
An extensive investigation led to police identifying the driver as Lopez, according to police. He was released on a $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in New Britain Superior Court on Sept. 17.
