ROCKY HILL — State officials are investigating a car chase involving state police in Norwichlast year that ended when a trooper repeatedly used his cruiser to ram a vehicle fleeing at high speed.
The state Office of the Inspector General, which is tasked with investigating officers who use deadly force, said Friday that Trooper Wilfred J. Blanchette is under investigation after he used a potentially deadly maneuver to cut short a car pursuit.
The pursuit began shortly before noon on Nov. 24 when Blanchette spotted a stolen silver 2006 Honda Accord speeding and driving erratically on state Route 2A in Montville, officials said.
Warning: This video contains graphic content and may be disturbing to some viewers.
Blanchette, who believed the driver might be intoxicated, pursued the vehicle north on Interstate 395 before reaching state Route 2 westbound in a chase that reached speeds as high as 120 mph, officials said.
Another state trooper then deployed tire deflation devices on the two-lane state highway that pierced one of the suspect vehicle’s tires, slowing the car and reducing the speed of the pursuit, officials said.
Officials said Blanchette was then granted authorization from Sgt. Gordon L. Leslie to perform an intentional collision designed to stop fleeing vehicles known as a precision immobilization technique, or PIT maneuver.
The technique involves police intentionally striking the vehicle in its rear corner, causing it to spin and come to a stop. Officials said it was this maneuver in particular that necessitated the investigation.
“The use of a PIT maneuver under many circumstances, and particularly at high speeds, constitutes the use of deadly physical force in light of the risk of harm it creates to the operator of the vehicle, its occupants, if any, and/or any bystanders,” officials said in a release.
Blanchette first struck the back of the Accord while driving at 75 mph and then performed another intentional collision that caused the driver to lose control and crash into the center-median guardrail, officials said.
Officials said the pursuing troopers then attempted to remove the driver, Jesus Santiago of Manchester, and the sole passenger, Tyloine Reddick, of an unknown address. Officials said Santiago was arrested without incident while Reddick struggled with officers and was bitten by a K-9 before being taken into custody.
Dashboard and body-worn camera footage of the arrest shows troopers dragging Santiago to the ground, kneeling on top of his body and demanding he comply with their demands before deploying the K-9. Santiago can be heard repeatedly asking, “Why is he biting me?”
Warning: This video contains graphic content and may be disturbing to some viewers.
Officials said the state investigation is centered around the trooper’s use of force and subsequent conduct, but did not share any additional details.
Officials said Santiago and Reddick refused medical attention at the scene and were charged with various motor vehicle and narcotics offenses.
