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Crime & Safety

Argument Over Loan in Norwalk Triggers Chase into Bridgeport

Stopped in Bridgeport, man faces charges from Norwalk and Westport police.

An argument in South Norwalk over an unpaid loan escalated into a car chase on Interstate 95 early Thursday that included the fleeing driver ramming a Westport police cruiser and attempting to escape on foot in Bridgeport, police said.

Norwalk Police became involved at 12:38 a.m., when a woman at 15 Burwell St. reported she had been assaulted. When officers arrived, they said the woman had blood on her clothes and a towel wrapped around her left wrist.

She said she had been in an argument with a man to whom she had lent $700 who punched her in the face and threw a bar glass that struck her in the wrist. She said he also pulled a phone away from her when she attempted to dial 911.

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A receipt he’d given her for the loan identified him as Bridgeport resident Rolf Johnson. She said he left in a green Toyota RAV4 SUV.

Norwalk broadcast a hotline message to surrounding towns advising they were looking for the RAV4, and it was believed to be heading northbound on I-95 to Bridgeport.

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The chase

Sometime after the 1:30 a.m. broadcast, a Westport officer posted
at the Exit 18 on-ramp to I-95 north spotted a green RAV4 passing by and began following it until he could read its license plate. The vehicle, according to Norwalk and Westport police, was identified in law enforcement records as stolen from a Fairview Avenue address in Norwalk.

The Westport officer attempted to stop the vehicle, but it sped up. At this point, Connecticut State Police were advised a Westport officer
was in pursuit of the vehicle.

In a news release, Westport police said the pursuit continued to exit 27 in Bridgeport, where the RAV4 left the highway and entered city streets. At one point it drove onto the sidewalk and around several parked cars before returning to the road and then ramming the front of a Westport cruiser.

The pursuit continued a short distance more before the RAV4 crashed into a parked car and the driver fled on foot. He was captured by Westport and Bridgeport officers.

Westport police charged Johnson, 42, of 249 Sixth St, Bridgeport, with third-degree larceny, assault on a police officer, interfering with a police officer, engaging police in a pursuit, operating with a suspended license, and reckless driving.

A check of judicial records showed Johnson was also wanted on three arrest warrants.

Johnson was held on $12,500 bond.

The passenger in the vehicle, Warren Goodman, 49, of 99 Lakeside Dr., Bridgeport, was charged with third-degree larceny. He was held on $2000 bond.

Norwalk Police charged Johnson with interfering with a 911 call, second-degree assault, and third-degree criminal mischief.

The woman was taken to Norwalk Hospital to have her wrist injury treated.

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