WOLCOTT, Conn. — Wolcott police revealed new details to FOX61 into events that led up to the dramatic arrests of a Connecticut couple accused of a crime spree to fuel their drug habit, leading up to one of them crashing a Hummer into eight police cruisers.
At the Pat’s IGA supermarket in Wolcott, police arrested Thomas Crawford and nearly apprehended Hannah Casperson, who fled before being spotted again during a now-infamous showdown with police in Waterbury.
“She saw the officers coming in and she fled in the vehicle. She took off,” said Wolcott Police Chief Ed Chief Stevens as he described the incident at Pat’s IGA Supermarket.
The police chase ended in Monroe, after crashing into eight police cruisers and striking a utility pole. Casperson tried to run off but she was arrested and taken to the hospital. She was arraigned Monday while continuing her recovery in the hospital.
Prior to that, Stevens told FOX61 that the couple broke into dozens of vehicles at an elderly living complex.
“Not just broken into with doors opened and rummaged through. Every one of them had their windows broken out. There were a total of 42 when it was all said and done,” said Stevens.
Casperson, 25, and Crawford, 31, got away until their now infamous white Hummer was spotted at that Wolcott shopping plaza.
“There’s a bank there and a store. So one detective went into the bank in case they were going to rob the bank, the other went into Pat’s IGA,” said Stevens.
It was inside the grocery store where police found Crawford ready to walk out with a shopping cart full of unpaid meats. The arrest warrant detailed how he was found “in possession of a window punch and had pieces of glass in his pockets.”
“I believe he said his drug of choice was crack,” added Stevens.
Their crime spree, which spanned multiple communities over more than a month, was allegedly all to fuel a drug habit.
“The reason that people continue to use the substance is not to get high. The reason they continue is because withdrawal is so God awful that they will do virtually anything to prevent that from occurring,” explained Dr. H.J. Nusbaum, the Associate Medical Director for the Root Center for Advanced Recovery.
The couple is now facing a slew of charges following the high-speed chase of Casperson, who allegedly rammed into eight police cruisers and injured seven officers with her Hummer.
According to police, Crawford admitted that he and Casperson are connected to crimes in Wolcott, Waterbury, Naugatuck, Danbury, and Bethel.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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