Crime & Safety

Update: Police Chase Ends in East Haven

North Branford police chase suspect down Route 80 to East Haven.

According to witnesses, at least four North Branford police cruisers pursued a vehicle down Route 80 at approximately 12:15 p.m. The suspect turned onto Route 100 in East Haven, coming to a stop in a resident's front yard near T&J Supermarket.

Update:

Around noon, the received a report of a shoplifting in progress at the in Central Shopping Plaza on Foxon Road. The male suspect allegedly loaded several items into a shopping basket, fled the store and headed west on Foxon Road, toward East Haven, in a brown Toyota.

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After a responding officer attempted to stop the vehicle, the suspect reportedly then engaged the officer in a pursuit, turning onto Forest Road toward the police station. Station officers placed spike strips across the roadway and the suspect made an abrupt U-turn, headed back toward Route 80, turning toward East Haven.

East Haven authorities were notified and according to North Branford police, based on the  the seriousness of the pending charges and the risks posed by the pursuit, the North Branford officers terminated the chase at the East Haven town line. 

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A short time later, East Haven police reported that the vehicle in question was abandoned in the driveway of a home on North High Street. Officers from that department responded and apprehended a male subject who matched the description of the one involved in the North Branford incident as he was attempting to break into an occupied residence. 

The male, later identified as Robert Graham, 31 of 645 Grand Ave., New Haven, resisted the East Haven officers and was subsequently taken into custody. 

The vehicle he was operating was stolen during a residential burglary in Middletown a short time ago and the East Hartford Police Department held an outstanding warrant for Graham for failure to appear.  The North Branford Police Department charged Graham with sixth-degree larceny, reckless driving and engaging a police officer in pursuit before releasing him to the East Haven Police Department, which placed their own charges on him.


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