Aug. 28--NEW HAVEN -- Police seem to have interrupted a delicate moment when they investigated a report of an occupied, suspicious car parked in a Quinnipiac Avenue neighborhood Monday.
Officers were called at 10:50 p.m. by Block Watch members from Quinnipiac Avenue. Officer David Parker arrived first and spotted the blue Honda. Its two occupants were in the back seat. When one of them saw Officer Parker, hopped into the driver's seat, started the engine and sped off.
The male driver sped past Officers David Totino and William Gargone, who turned to follow.
Officer Totino directed the dispatcher to notify the North Haven Police Department that the recklessly driven Honda was headed toward their town on Quinnipiac Avenue. The vehicle didn't make it that far, striking a curbstone as the operator tried negotiating a curve in the road at Middletown Avenue.
The officers ran to the car and tried opening the driver's door. The operator drove the car in reverse, narrowly missing Gargone. The car was stopped and door was opened, and the officers struggled to pry the operator's hands from the steering wheel as the female passenger shouted, "Stop, Adam! Stop it!"
The woman's pleas were useless as the man fought his apprehension. Officer Gargone gave the man a shot of pepper spray to the face. Seconds later, Adam Singletary, 26, of Hartford, was in handcuffs.
The female passenger told Officer Gargone she and Singletary were intimately engaged in the back of the car when officers arrived. She said she had relatives who lived there, but wasn't sure exactly where. Singletary apologized to the officers. He said he "reverted back to the days when [he] was in trouble," and that's why he fled.
The car wasn't registered. Singletary was arrested and charged with misusing a marker plate, second-degree reckless endangerment, interfering with police and engaging officers in a pursuit.
The woman was not charged.
Copyright 2012 - New Haven Register, Conn.
