Warrant: Chick-fil-A Receipts, Video Lead Newington Connecticut Police to Driver who Struck Officer

NEWINGTON, CT — The Wethersfield man accused of intentionally striking a police officer during an attempted traffic stop earlier this year was identified in part through Chick-fil-A receipts and surveillance footage, according to court documents.

Luis Antonio Lopez, 22, was charged Wednesday with assault on a public safety officer, first-degree reckless endangerment, evading responsibility, reckless driving, disobeying the signal of an officer, failure to display lights and driving with an obstructed windshield following a months-long investigation into the March 19 incident.

It started around 9:30 p.m. that evening, when an officer spotted an Audi sedan with extremely dark tints — and had a history of fleeing from police — in the drive-thru of a Chick-fil-A on the Berlin Turnpike, according to the warrant for Lopez's arrest.

The warrant says the vehicle had engaged police in a pursuit earlier that evening and also fled from an officer eight days prior.

After radioing the vehicle's whereabouts, the warrant says the officer who spotted the vehicle made his way to the drive-thru and "strategically positioned his vehicle in front of the exit ... in an attempt to block the Audio from leaving."

As other officers responded to the scene and started taking "strategic positions behind the vehicle to attempt a felony stop," the warrant says the first officer on scene retrieved stop sticks from the rear of his cruiser.

As he made his way to a curbed grass median outside the drive-thru lane and attempted to deploy them, the warrant says the Audi drove onto the median and accelerated toward the officer.

"Officer Rivera gave commands to the driver to stop and the Audi and its operator continued toward Officer Rivera. Luckily, Officer Rivera was able to move in time and the vehicle only struck his left leg, causing him pain in his left knee," the warrant says.

Police said the Audi continued into the parking lot of a nearby Lowe's and police pursued the vehicle onto Deming Street, westbound toward the Berlin Turnpike.

While heading northbound on the turnpike, police said the driver of the fleeing vehicle shut off the car's lights and rapidly increased speed.

"As I attempted to pursue the Audi, I reached speeds of 97 mph and the Audi was still gaining distance from the police cruiser," an officer wrote in the warrant.

The warrant says the pursuit was called off as police approached the intersection of Main Street and the Berlin Turnpike, after which dispatch sent a be-on-the-lookout to surrounding towns and requested checks for license plate readers hits in the area.

A hit came back showing the Audi in the area of Blue Hills Avenue and Britton Drive in Bloomfield around 10:10 p.m., but was gone by the time officers got there, according to the warrant.

When Newington police returned to the Chick-fil-A the next morning, the warrant says they reviewed CCTV footage, which showed a white Hispanic man behind the wheel of the Audi.

They also acquired receipts for orders the suspect placed on both March 11 and March 19, the warrant says. In addition to getting the last four digits of the Visa card used, the warrant says police learned that "Luis" had been the guest name used to place the orders.

Newington police also learned that the same Visa card was used to place orders at the Chick-fil-A several other times and reviewed CCTV footage from the dates of those transactions, according to the warrant.

Footage showed a young man resembling the suspect driving a black Acura with "very distinct rims" on March 3, according to the warrant, which said police compared the vehicle to license plate readers images from that day and managed to obtain a license plate.

Police said a query of the plate came back registered to a woman in Wethersfield with a possible son named Luis Lopez, who resembled the individual in all of the CCTV footage from the Chick-fil-A.

When police went to speak with the woman, they said she confirmed Lopez was her son and told them he drives her Acura TSX. She also told them he had an Audi that he kept at a storage facility, the location of which she said she did not know, according to the warrant.

The warrant says police checked all storage facilities in the area but were unable to locate the Audi.

In April, while awaiting a response to a search warrant for account holder information for Visa card used at the Chick-fil-A, the warrant says police received anonymous tips identifying Lopez as the suspect in the March 19 incident.

One tip that came in included a photo of Lopez standing next to an Audi with the same distinctive 10-spoke wheels as the vehicle that struck the Newington police officer on March 19, according to the warrant for his arrest.

Court records show Lopez was released from custody on a $100,000 professional surety bond following his arrest this week and has a Sept. 17 arraignment scheduled at state Superior Court in New Britain.

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