Police: Arrest made in movie-style car chase

BRIDGEPORT — Police said it was like a scene from a movie.

A local man in a pickup truck was seen chasing a vehicle containing a terrified couple on a downtown street Wednesday night, bullets flying, they said.

Police said the driver of the pickup, 34-year-old Leroy Sanchez, who is on probation for gun and drug convictions, was charged with first-degree assault, criminal possession of a firearm, illegal discharge of a firearm, illegal transfer of a firearm, possession of a large-capacity magazine and possession of narcotics with intent to sell.

Sanchez was being held in lieu of $500,000 bond.

Shortly after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said they got calls of shots being fired from a pickup truck that was allegedly chasing a car through the intersection of Fairfield and Park avenues. Police said officers went to the scene and found a spent .40-caliber bullet casing in the roadway.

A short time later, police said ShotSpotter reported multiple gunshots north on Park Avenue. At the same time, police said 911 dispatch received a call from a hysterical woman crying that her car was being fired on by a man in a red pickup truck.

Police said the woman managed to drive her car to the police department and she and her male passenger ran inside seeking protection. Police said they found bullet holes in the woman’s car; neither she nor her passenger were injured.

The pickup truck was stopped by an officer in front of the courthouse on Golden Hill Street, police said. They said the driver, later identified as Sanchez, came out of the driver’s door holding a knife but agreed to drop it.

They said he began yelling that he was trying to kill “the black guy,” apparently a reference to the male passenger in the car he had allegedly been chasing.

Handcuffed, police said Sanchez then began repeatedly banging his head on the roof of a patrol car, denting the car.

During a search, police said they found two bags of cocaine hidden in Sanchez’s groin area. In his truck, police said, they found a .40-caliber handgun loaded with an 18-bullet magazine and another magazine containing 12 bullets.

While in booking, police said Sanchez began yelling and screaming and threatening officers. They said he also urinated on the floor. Police said he was taken to the hospital.