A 55-year-old Connecticut man has been accused of driving the wrong way on a highway while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, then leading state troopers on a 30-mile chase and ramming two police cruisers, authorities say.
State police said they started getting 911 calls around 12:30 a.m. about a driver in a 2009 Nissan Frontier pickup going north on the southbound side of state Route 8, near exits 11 and 12 in Shelton, so a trooper put on the emergency lights and went after the truck.
Instead of stopping, Thomas Plesz, 55, of Fairfield, allegedly sped off in the wrong direction, according to police.
At that point, state police alerted authorities from local towns to stop other vehicles from getting on the southbound side of the highway.
At exit 21, Seymour police used stop sticks but they hit only two of the tires on Plesz’s pickup and he kept going, police said.
State troopers continued to try and stop Plesz, but he continued to go around the cruisers and allegedly intentionally rammed into one cruiser just before exit 38 in Thomaston. Plesz's pickup then crashed into the back of another cruiser before stopping, according to state police.
The two troopers whose vehicles were struck were sore after the impact, but were not transported to the hospital.
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Plesz faces charges of charged with reckless driving, operating under the influence, driving the wrong way on a divided highway, assault on public safety, reckless endangerment, interfering with an officer and disobeyed an officer’s signal.
He was held on a $25,000 surety bond and is due in court on Wednesday. Attorney information for the man wasn't available.
