Community Corner
Two Town Police Chase Ends in Multiple Charges for New Britain Man
An attempted DUI stop that began outside the Southington Police Department led to a brief chase and eventually ended when the man, no longer being followed, crashed his car in Plainville.
Drinking and driving is never encouraged, but for a New Britain man facing multiple charges following a two-town drunk driving incident on Sunday, there’s a second lesson to take from it. If you are hoping to avoid arrest, swerving your way by a police station before initiating a chase will never end well.
Police said Monday that Michael Cordero, of 144 Jordan St. in New Britain, started a police chase outside the Southington Police Department on Lazy Lane and proceeded to end it with an accident just over the town line in Plainville Sunday night.
The good news is the accident proved minor and no one was injured in the incident, police said.
“It was certainly an unusual case,” said Lt. Michael Baribault of the Southington Police Department. “Cordero was seen around a shift change driving east along Lazy Lane by the police department and swerving across the center line.”
Baribault said one of the officers was preparing to leave the station back on patrol and observed the behavior and followed Cordero, who was driving a Toyota Camry. When she turned her lights on, however, Baribault said Cordero sped up and turned left onto Queen Street and ran multiple stoplights while continuing to increase speed.
The chase was called off in the interest of public safety, police said, and Plainville was notified of a potential DUI heading their way.
Moments later, however, Southington received a call from Plainville police reporting that the car had just been in an accident. When the officer went to see the car and driver, the two departments were able to link Cordero to the Southington incident.
Cordero is facing charges including failure to maintain proper lane, five counts of failure to obey traffic signal, engaging police in pursuit and reckless driving. He is also facing driving under the influence, evading responsibility and other charges in Plainville, according to police.
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