EAST HAVEN -- Police released the dashcam video Wednesday of a stolen car chase that took place on Sunday killing a 4-year-old Hamden boy and injuring a 15-year-old from East Haven. Two men, including the boy's father, are facing charges stemming from the incident.
The video shows the moments leading up to the attempted traffic stop and the end of the chase before exit 55. It started on Sunday around 6:20 p.m. when an East Haven police officer was on patrol and noticed a Toyota Corolla driving without tail lights. The officer followed the car and noticed it ran over a curb, then he attempted to pull over it over. Police said it was later determined that the car was stolen out of New Haven.
The driver refused to stop, and started driving extremely fast, police said. He exited a parking lot, crossed two lanes of traffic and went onto I-95 northbound. Police chased the car for two minutes, but stopped near Exit 54 in Branford due to the "extremely high rate of speed" the car was going. East Haven Police said that during the chase, "the officer was advised by both supervisors to terminate, at which point all emergency lights and sirens were de-activated."
Not long after, the officer got off the highway onto Route 1 to return to his patrol, he noticed smoke from a car crash and found the suspect, who had slammed head-on with a 2004 Honda Element two miles away. As the officer approached, the driver ran into the woods.
Police found four kids in the car under the age of 15, as well as another adult who had multiple warrants out for his arrest. One child, a 4-year-old boy from Hamden, was seriously injured in the crash. He had been sitting on another person's lap.
The young boy, later identified as Jai'rus Jeremiah Little, died at Yale-New Haven Hospital. His father, Brandon Little, 24, of New Haven, was in the car as well.
A GoFundMe page has been started to raise money for Jai'rus' funeral expenses, according to his grandmother, Ronita Browdy.
The driver of the Honda declined medical treatment.
A police K-9 tracked down the driver of the Corolla, and he was identified as Tyler Carey, 18, of East Haven. Carey was arrested and charged with four counts of risk of injury to a minor, reckless endangerment in the first degree, reckless driving, larceny in the second degree, failure to have tail lights, failure to stop for police, misuse of license plate, driving in the improper lane and failure to signal.
More charges will be added due to the young boy's death, but for now Carey is being held on $500,000 bond.
The other adult passenger, Little, was arrested for the multiple warrants out for his arrest from New Haven and West Haven.
