Branford Police Department
A Massachusetts man with a long criminal record and a history of assaulting police officers, police said, was arrested Saturday morning and charged with assaulting two Branford police officers after they tried to take him into custody. He escaped, fled and was later captured.
Officer Lue Sobieraj was just finishing up his night shift shortly before 8 a.m. and Officer John Casella, was into his first hour on the day shift, when they began investigating a suspicious auto then parked in the area of 738 East Main St. Police checked the license plates and found it had been stolen in Wethersfield on Wednesday. The driver may have been asleep in the car when the two officers approached the car. They began to question him. He was later identified as Michael Lear, 46, of Hull, Mass.
As they attempted to take Lear into custody and handcuff him, he became “combative,” the police said. He then managed to get back into the stolen car, driving off with the driver’s door open. While attempting to speed away, the door struck both officers, injuring their shoulders, arms and legs, police said. The officers were thrown backwards. Lear sped off.
Officers Sobieraj and Cassella, both veterans of the police force, were taken to a local hospital. Both were treated and released later in the day. They are expected to make a full recovery.
Police Chief Kevin Halloran visited the two officers in the hospital. “We are all grateful for the extraordinary work they do and thankful they weren’t injured worse than they are,” he said.
Although injured, Officer Sobieraj was able to pursue Lear in his police car, providing other officers with a physical description of the suspect and his direction of travel.
Meanwhile, another group of Branford officers along with back-up from North Branford, Guilford and the Connecticut State Police, found the stolen car a short distance away, abandoned in the area of the Stop & Shop on Leetes Island Road at the exit 56 interchange of I‑95. The police cars converged on the Stop & Shop parking lot where the showdown finally ended.
Tasers Drawn
Then one of the officers noticed Lear standing by the front entrance to the supermarket. Another brief struggle took place with officers and Capt.Geoffrey Morgan reported from the scene that police officers had to use their Taser guns several times to try to subdue Lear. He was eventually taken into custody.
Morgan told the Eagle the car theft in Wethersfield was believed to be the second car theft committed by the suspect. According to Massachusetts police, the first car theft took place in their state. That car was abandoned in Wethersfield. Then police say Lear allegedly stole another car in Wethersfield, the one Branford police found Saturday morning.
Morgan said he did not know why Lear made his way to Branford. But police theorize that the reason he was standing outside the Stop & Shop was in order to accost a shopper, steal another car and be on his way.
Instead he was arrested and charged with two counts of assault in the second degree, a Class D felony and two counts of assault on a peace officer, a Class C felony along with other charges. He was held on $250,000 bond pending arraignment in New Haven Superior Court Monday morning.
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