SOUTHINGTON, Conn — Two Waterbury men were arrested on larceny, narcotics and weapons charges Thursday evening following a wild incident where a stolen car was pinned against a building. One man tried to run and the second jumped in the driver's seat and tried to take off before being blocked in again.
“You can imagine the intensity of the situation," said Lt. Keith Egan, Public Information Officer for the Southington Police Department.
At 7:43 p.m., the Southington police were notified by a license plate reader that a stolen vehicle had just crossed into town. Police said officers found the Nissan Maxima in the parking lot of 1664 Meriden Waterbury Road, with two men who were later identified as Damon Davis, 28 and Tiomonte Morgan, 27, both of Waterbury.
Video released by police shows officers entering the parking lot and attempting to block the car in to prevent it from taking off. Police said Davis was driving the stolen vehicle and rammed the police vehicle used to block him in. He continued ramming the police vehicle, attempting to break free, hitting a vehicle parked nearby, occupied by another driver, who was a customer of a nearby business. Police say that bystander was not injured, but their car was damaged.
On the video, the man police identified as Davis can be seen getting out of the Nissan and attempting to run from the scene. He was quickly apprehended by police. Davis was found to be in possession of a handgun with an obliterated serial number, 70 bags of fentanyl, and nearly $2,000 in cash.
“After a few hours, I got home and that’s when you just kind of sit back and say, wow, what did I see tonight," said Brian Lucey of Townline Pizza, who was working at the time. The first arrest was made right outside their shop.
At the same time, police said Morgan got into the driver's seat and backed the vehicle up, hitting the commercial building and another unoccupied vehicle parked in the parking lot, attempting to escape.
The video shows the officer dragging Davis into the business. Police said Morgan drove a short distance through the parking lot before ramming another Southington police cruiser and other cars. As police surrounded the Maxima, they said Morgan attempted to escape by ramming between two police vehicles and some cars in the parking lot, until the stolen vehicle became disabled.
Police said they went through the driver's side window and removed Morgan from the vehicle.
“It was like, you know, something you see on TV," Lucey said.
Officers discovered a loaded Glock handgun on the driver's side floor of the vehicle, later determined to be stolen and modified to operate as a fully automatic weapon. Inside the vehicle, officers recovered 610 individual bags of fentanyl packaged for sale, 6.6 grams of powdered fentanyl, 7.1 grams of powdered Cocaine, 1.5 ounces of Crack Cocaine, and other drug paraphernalia related to drug sales.
“We took two criminals off the road. We got two weapons, one very dangerous weapon off the road, and we got a lot of drugs off the road. So I think at the end of the day, it’s a win," Lt. Egan said.
It was later determined that the same car was involved in an incident in Middletown, where police engaged in a short chase, but did not get involved in a full pursuit. Middletown Police said they then sent a memo to surrounding departments about the stolen car.
Damon Davis was ultimately charged with larceny 1st degree, reckless endangerment 2nd, interfering with an officer, criminal possession of a firearm, weapons in a motor vehicle, obliterated serial number, criminal mischief 1st, and two counts of possession of with intent to sell.
Tiomonte Morgan was charged with criminal attempt at assault 2nd, larceny 1st Department of police services, criminal possession of a firearm, possession of machine gun, weapons in a motor vehicle, criminal mischief 1st degree, stolen firearm, reckless endangerment 1st, interfering with an officer, two counts of possession of narcotics with intent to sell, possession of high capacity magazine.
Both were held on a $1 million bond.
In the meantime, businesses in the plaza are reminding customers that the area is safe.
"Keep coming down. This is a one-time incident, it has nothing to do with anything with the area. This is a safe place, keep coming. We got a lot of businesses here that need to keep staying active. We’re busy for a reason so, don’t be afraid," Lucey said.
Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Doug Stewart is a Senior Digital Content Producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dstewart@fox61.com.
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