Crash And Arrest Follow State Police Pursuit
State police arrested aÃÂ
New York state manÃÂ on three charges following a late night police pursuit on May 2, in an incident that started on Interstate 84 and ended with a head-on collision between two autos on Mt Pleasant Road in Hawleyville.
State police said that at about 11:30 pm, while they were conducting speed enforcement on westbound I-84, near Exit 10, they saw a white 2007 BMW 328-IS sedan traveling 86 miles per hour in the center lane of three lanes within a posted 65-mph zone, so they pursued the BMW in seeking to stop it.
The BMW, however, increased its speed to more than 100 miles per hour as it traveled westward toward Hawleyville.
State police caught up with the BMW at the end of the Exit 9 off-ramp in Hawleyville and then started a traffic stop on its driver James Barron, 19, of Marlboro, N.Y.
At that time, "the vehicle failed to yield to the trooper's emergency lights and proceeded onto (southbound) Hawleyville Road toward Route 6 (Mt Pleasant Road)," according to state police.
The vehicle continued at a high rate of speed, failing to stop at the blinking red light at the intersection of Hawleyville Road and Mt Pleasant Road.
According to a related town police report on the incident, the BMW then made a left turn at the intersection from southbound Hawleyville Road onto Mt Pleasant Road, and was then traveling eastward in Mt Pleasant Road's westbound lane.
At that time, motorist Jose Venegas, 20, of Norwalk was driving a 2002 Audi TT sports car westward in the westbound lane of Mt Pleasant Road, town police said.
Venegas was unable to stop the Audi in time, after which the Audi and BMW collided head-on at the intersection.
The BMW carried passenger Zion Marsh, 18, of Hopewell Junction, N.Y.; the Audi carried passenger Daniel Sheikh, 21, of Norwalk, town police said.
Town police said that a Newtown volunteer ambulance crew went to the accident scene to evaluate those involved in the crash and all four people refused medical aid.
State police had informed town police that the accident had occurred at the Hawleyville intersection. Town police then investigated the collision, but state police filed the charges against Barron.
State police arrested Barron on charges of reckless driving, engaging police in pursuit, and first-degree reckless endangerment. Barron was released on $250 bail for a May 16 appearance in Connecticut Superior Court in Danbury.