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The incident began on Tuesday, Feb. 14 around 9:40 p.m., when state police learned of a car driving erratically on Interstate 95 over the Gold Star Bridge in New London.
Troopers then caught up with the vehicle, a 2008 Saturn Aura Xe, in Waterford near Exit 82. Here, they allegedly saw the car drift between the right and left fog lanes.
Soon after this, police tried to pull the car over, but the vehicle ignored the lights and sirens and led troopers on a chase for about a mile before it was boxed in and was forced to stop, state police said.
As troopers got out of their vehicles to confront the surrounded driver, the car continued to move in an attempt to drive around the parked police cruisers. However, the troopers were able to get back in their cruisers in time to reposition them to prevent the car from driving away.
Police then made contact with the driver, identified as 43-year-old Essex resident Kevin Harris, and told him to exit his car. However, Harris was still refusing to give up and began to fight with troopers in the right lane of the highway as they escorted him out of the vehicle.
After a brief struggle, Harris was finally put in handcuffs and arrested. As they kept talking with him, troopers smelled alcohol on Harris's breath but did not administer sobriety tests on the highway as they felt it would not be safe.
After Harris declined to take a sobriety test at police headquarters, he was charged with the following:
- Engaging police in pursuit;
- Disobeying the signal of an officer;
- Operating under the influence of drugs or alcohol;
- Interfering with an officer;
- Failure to maintain proper lane.
Harris was held on a $10,000 bond and was arraigned in New London Superior Court on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
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