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The incident took place in New Haven County around 12:15 p.m., Tuesday, March 28 on Grilleytown Road in Waterbury.
A Waterbury officer was patrolling the area of Grilleytown Road when he came upon an abandoned stolen vehicle out of Millertown, New York, said Lt. Ryan Bessette of the Waterbury Police.
Shortly after recovering this stolen vehicle, the officer located another stolen motor vehicle out of Ridgefield, parked, occupied, on Sage Drive. As the officer approached the vehicle, four occupants immediately fled on foot, Bessette said.
The officer was able to quickly take into custody the driver of the vehicle, who was identified as a 14-year-old male.
Additional officers located another occupant of the vehicle nearby and took that individual into custody who was identified as a 16-year-old male, Bessette said.
The two other vehicle occupants fled into a wooded area nearby and then were seen by officers entering a nearby reservoir known as Lakewood Lake.
One 17-year-old came out of the reservoir and was taken into custody by officers, police said.
The other teen went under the water and could no longer be seen. Officers entered the water to attempt to make life-saving efforts to locate them with help from the Waterbury Fire Department but were unsuccessful in locating the teen, Bessette said.
The Region 5 Dive team responded and recovered the 17-year-old from the reservoir, who was then transported to Saint Mary’s Hospital and pronounced dead.
All of the occupants of the stolen motor vehicle resided in Waterbury and were known to the Waterbury Police for previous arrests, Bessette said.
The three juveniles have been charged with theft of a stolen vehicle and interfering with police.
The Connecticut State Police will be taking over the investigation regarding the death of the 17-year-old.
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