Three dead after car flees Putnam County traffic stop

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DANBURY CT – Police continue to investigate the deaths of a driver and two passengers in a car Saturday morning when they crashed in Connecticut after fleeing a traffic stop in Putnam County. Two other passengers in the car were hospitalized after the crash.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office reported that at about 4:20 a.m., a sheriff’s deputy was in a marked cruiser on patrol along Route 6 in the Town of Southeast, about three-quarters of a mile from the New York/Connecticut state line. The deputy spotted the car driving eastbound on the highway being operated erratically and swerving over the center line of the road.
Suspecting the driver was drunk, the deputy turned on his lights and siren and attempted to pull the car over. The driver did not comply and continued eastbound toward Connecticut with the deputy following, initially at speeds below the speed limit.
When the suspect’s car was about a quarter-mile from the state line, the driver stepped on the gas and the deputy continued to follow, radioing the sheriff’s office to notify Danbury Police to be on the lookout for the car. About three-quarters of a mile into Connecticut the deputy decelerated and turned off his siren.  The suspect’s car continued to speed away and about 15 seconds later, it ran off the road and crashed into a metal utility pole at the intersection of Route 6 and Milestone Road in Danbury.
The car was occupied by five people, including a male driver, two male passengers and two female passengers. The drive and male passengers were killed on impact. The women were taken to the hospital with injuries to their extremities that were not believed to be life-threatening.
The sheriff’s deputy was not injured, but was taken to a hospital for observation.
Danbury Police are investigating the crash with the Putnam Sheriff’s Office conducting an internal review of the events preceding it. A preliminary review indicates the deputy followed the suspect’s car for about 1 ½ minutes over a about 1 ½ miles with speeds clocked less than 65 miles per hour and top speeds of over 80 for about 15 seconds. 




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