Man Arrested in Shootout That Wounded Conn. Trooper

April 15, 2013
Police arrested Sebastian P. Award in connection with a robbery, chase and shootout on April 8.

WESTBROOK, -- Police arrested a Deep River man Saturday in connection with a shoreline robbery, chase and shootout with police on April 8 in which one suspect was killed and a state police trooper was shot in the shoulder.

Sebastian P. Award, 24, of 257 W. Elm St., was served with an arrest warrant Saturday at Hartford Hospital, where he is being treated for injuries from the shootout, state police said in a press release late Saturday.

Award is expected to be arraigned Monday in Superior Court in Middletown if he is discharged from the hospital, state police said. Meanwhile, police said, he would remain under guard by troopers and correction officers at the hospital. His bail was set at $1.5 million.

A second suspect, Jonathan Alvarado, 24, also of Deep River, died of gunshot wounds from the shootout, state police said.

On Monday afternoon, a veteran state trooper had just left the Troop F barracks in Westbrook and pulled onto Route 153 when two men fleeing a robbery smashed into his vehicle, law enforcement sources familiar with the case told The Courant last week.

Both vehicles left the road and rolled, either on their side or upside down, no more than 15 feet apart, the sources said.

In the shootout, Trooper Scott Wisner, a 21-year veteran, fired from the driver's window toward the two suspects, who fired back at him, sources said.

In the press release Saturday, state police said Wisner was shot in the shoulder and was treated at Middlesex Shoreline Clinic and released.

A second trooper, Sgt. Keith Graham, a 14-year veteran, arrived at the crash scene during the shootout and shot Alvarado, who was still in the car, sources said.

The shooting happened about 2:50 p.m. on Route 153 near Docs Hill Road in Westbrook.

Alvarado and the other man were fleeing Old Saybrook police after a robbery at the Days Inn in Old Saybrook, police said.

The charges that Award faces include two counts of criminal attempt to commit murder, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, two counts of first-degree robbery, three counts of second-degree larceny and assault on a police officer, police said.

Award's criminal arrest record dates to 2005 and includes arrests along the shoreline on felony and misdeamenor drug charges, as well as misdemeanor assault, breach of peace, violation of probation and several motor vehicle charges, according to the state judicial branch database.

He was sentenced in April 2010 to three months in prison for interfering with police and resisting arrest stemming from a December 2009 state police arrest.

Copyright 2013 - The Hartford Courant

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

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