State police said a Naugatuck man stole a vehicle and crashed it into a gasoline tanker in Southington on Tuesday, prompting a massive fire that shut down a portion I-691 for several hours.
Brian K. Miele, 43, of 9 Bradley St., was taken into custody after police said he was able to escape the enflamed vehicle and flee on foot in the area of Route 322 and Route 10, where the crash happened. After being apprhended, Miele was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.
The suspect was charged with first-degree larceny, reckless driving, disobeying the signal of an officer, driving under the influence, interfering with an officer and driving with a suspended license. He was held on a $25,000 bond and was due to appear in Waterbury Superior Court today.
, at 3:30 p.m. Southington police got a call of a car accident at the intersection of Route 322, also known as the Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike, and Route 10. When first responders got to the scene, they found a tractor-trailer, full of 8,600 gallons of fuel, on fire.
Officials immediately closed the area down and nearby residents were evacuated, Southington Patch reported. Some electrical wires also came down, causing roughly 1,000 nearby homes and businesses to lose power.
The Record Journal newspaper in Meriden reported that the vehicle in the crash was allegedly stolen in Woodbury. The newspaper also reported that the Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike was closed for 13 hours following the fire, which raged for nearly two hours before being successfully extinguished.
Miele has a lengthy criminal record for charges such as driving under the influence, interfering with an officer and reckless endangerment. He also has pending criminal cases for reckless endangerment, larceny and narcotics possession, according to the state Judicial Branch.
That's not kind; you're better than that. I would not be surprised if he CANNOT post since I flagged many of his responses as 'inappropriate'. Either way, I'll be very interested to see what kind of punishment this barnacle of society earns for himself.
When will our justice system finally get to work ?
He was only on Bradley st because he was livin with my dear friend neighbor Karen who passed in jan 2012 he was in jail long b4 she got sick, I saw his name many times in paper for stealing frm Walmart but had no idea it was that bad. He won't b comin to our neighborhood because Karen's gone RIP and her son is out and the house is locked up and empty prob foreclosure or new owner so he won't b coming here but I hear he has a sister ..he never did me wrong but I hear he was bad news