Crash On Glen Rd

Follows Brief Chase

By John Voket

A Newtown resident and his young passenger said they were lucky to be alive after nearly being run off Glen Road by a driver who was fleeing from Newtown Police following an attempted police traffic stop. The witness, who was not identified by police, told a reporter at the scene that the late model Mitsubishi Eclipse, “…came out of nowhere,” before careening across Glen Road, knocking a mailbox almost 100 feet, and ricocheting into a guardrail at the corner of Far View Drive.

According to police, the sequence of events began unfolding when Newtown Officer Jeff Silver clocked the speeding vehicle on radar at about 5 pm. As the officer engaged the vehicle to pull it over, the driver accelerated and sped away. At that point, the officer broke off the chase.

Newtown police declined to say whether the officer made the decision to disengage the fleeing vehicle himself, or if he was authorized to do so by a superior.

At that point, the fleeing vehicle, which police say was being operated by 26-year-old Southbury resident Gregory Petro, apparently continued east on Glen Road at a high rate of speed. The witness, who was accompanied by an adolescent child, had just pulled out of Walnut Tree Hill Road heading east when he said he heard the screeching of tires.

“I saw him coming in my rear view mirror, and I thought he had plenty of room to stop,” the witness said. “But he cut into the oncoming lane and took out that mailbox,” he said, pointing westward up Glen Road where the mailbox was laying on the westbound shoulder.

“Then he bounced off the curb and cut across in front of me, up on the curb, and across the grass into the guardrail,” he said, nodding toward the wrecked vehicle where it ended up, at the corner of Far View Drive.

“I pulled in here [to Far View Drive] and jumped out to help, and when I came up to the car, the passenger looked like she was out cold. Then I heard someone yell, ‘back away from the car’ and this cop comes running up with his gun out, so I backed off.”

At this point the officer, who had broken off the pursuit moments earlier, secured the scene and called for medical assistance for the injured passenger. As additional officers and members from the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire Department arrived, one suspect could be seen sitting in the back of a cruiser while another passenger stood beside the car in handcuffs. In the meantime, members of the Newtown Ambulance Service worked on the injured front seat passenger, who had been removed from the vehicle.

Several liquor bottles, including a nearly empty bottle of rum, were lined up on the car roof, along with a green ice chest, while police continued their investigation.

Some neighbors who gathered at the scene were taking in all the activity. Several others were assessing the distance from where the fleeing vehicle first struck the mailbox, where the mailbox landed, and how far the car continued skidding before coming to rest, estimating the skid marks to be at least another 150–200 feet.

Following the investigation, Mr Petro was arrested and charged with DUI, unlawful restraint, reckless driving, evading responsibility, disregarding the signal of an officer, operating under suspension, and speeding. He was held on a $5,000 bond pending a court appearance September 14.

According to Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe, the charge of unlawful restraint is typically lodged when one or more passengers in the car of a suspected drunk or impaired driver demand to be let out of the vehicle, but the driver refuses. It was not disclosed at press time if this was the case in Mr Petro’s situation.