HARTFORD — A local man accused of driving a stolen car up an embankment in West Hartford, getting airborne for more than 50 feet, landing on a busway platform and falling to the road below was arraigned in court Tuesday.
Dennis Kelly, 29, of Hartford, faces charges that include reckless driving, first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree assault with a motor vehicle, first-degree larceny, third-degree damage to railroad property among other charges, according to his arrest warrant, stemming from the accident shortly before midnight on May 11.
A judge set his bail at $75,000.
Police said their investigation showed that Kelly’s 2013 Nissan Altima was driving on Carney Road when it went up the embankment, became airborne for 57 feet and landed on the busway platform that was under construction. The car then fell about 17 feet onto a jersey barrier and came to rest on Railroad Place, according to the warrant.
Data from the vehicle shows that five seconds before the accident the car was traveling at 88 miles per hour, according to the warrant.
Police found Kelly at the scene strapped into the vehicle and a passenger walking outside the car covered in blood, the warrant said. The passenger had suffered a fractured spine, three fractured ribs, a fractured right knee and a fractured bone beneath the right eye, the warrant said. Kelly suffered minor injuries.
The passenger told police that she and a friend got into the car with Kelly, and that Kelly dropped off the friend at the YWCA on Broad Street in Hartford before starting to smoke marijuana, according to the warrant. The warrant said Kelly’s urine screen came up positive for marijuana.
Shortly after Kelly was released from the hospital, Hartford police reported the car as stolen, the warrant said. The car’s owner told police that she left with its windows down and keys in the center console.
According to the warrant, police determined that Kelly had an existing arrest warrant for sixth-degree larceny in Hartford.
Kelly also was arrested last Wednesday for interfering with an officer, a Hartford Police Department report shows.