Groton City police recover body, car from Thames River
GROTON CITY POLICE RECOVER BODY, CAR FROM THAMES RIVER
Groton City — City police confirmed that a woman was found inside a vehicle that entered the Thames River behind the Puffins Restaurant on Thames Street. The woman later was pronounced deceased at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital.
City of Groton Police received a report of a car in the water at around 2 p.m. and found the vehicle fully submerged in the Thames River. The car was found upside down about 20 yards off the riverbed in about 20 feet of water with the woman inside, police said in a news release issued Friday night.
Old Mystic’s dive and rescue team was in the water searching for the vehicle shortly after 2 p.m., assisted on the water by the sub base police. Diver Tony Mancini of the Old Mystic Fire Department found the vehicle.
A woman at the scene said she received a text from her friend shortly before 2 p.m. saying her friend was going to drive into the river. Her husband and the woman’s husband were also close friends, she said.
After a search, the divers located and retrieved the female occupant, and immediately transported her by ambulance to Lawrence + Memorial hospital, where she later was pronounced dead.
Police were withholding the woman’s name as they notify her next of kin and said nothing in their investigation pointed toward criminal activity.
In addition to city police and fire officials, Groton Ambulance, a Lawrence + Memorial Hospital paramedic and the Old Mystic Fire Department also were at the scene. They were assisted by a boat from the Naval Submarine Base and the U.S. Coast Guard.
MAN ARRESTED IN SALEM FOR STEALING CAR, EVADING COPS
Salem — A Wethersfield man suspected of committing a robbery in Norwich was arrested Friday after leading state troopers on a 26-mile chase Friday morning.
Peter Smith, 45, was charged in Salem with driving with a suspended license, first-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, evading the direction of an officer, first-degree larceny, interfering with an officer, assaulting public safety personnel, drinking while driving and first-degree reckless endangerment.
According to the arrest warrant, troopers found Smith driving a stolen vehicle and attempted to stop him. The car was reported stolen from Norwich, where Smith was also a suspect in a robbery. Smith refused to stop and led troopers on a 26-mile pursuit through Colchester, Marlborough, Hebron and back into Colchester.
Troopers used stop sticks multiple times in an attempt to stop Smith, one of which deflated a tire, but he continued driving on the vehicle’s rim. He intentionally rammed two state police cruisers when he was boxed in, and he was stopped near the Salem town line, where he was taken into custody.
No troopers or other police officers were injured, and the cruisers sustained minor damage in the incident.
Smith is being held on a $100,000 cash surety bond and will appear in Norwich Superior Court on Monday. Norwich police were notified of the incident and will be arresting Smith in court on their pending charges.
NL POLICE ARREST TWO MEN FOR SUSPECTED DRUG DEALING
New London — Police said they arrested two men with drugs packed for sale and a gun at a Moore Avenue apartment Friday morning.
At the scene, police said they found 209 grams of crack cocaine and 23 grams of heroin, which were both packaged for individual sale. In addition, they said they found 17.5 grams of marijuana and seized a Walther PPK .38 handgun as well as $9,180 in cash.
Anthony “Flee” Whitley, 32, and Bashon Whitley, 26, both of 19 Moore Ave., Apt. 3, were arrested and each charged with three counts of possession of narcotics, three counts of possession of narcotics with intent to sell, three counts of possession of narcotics with intent to sell within 1,500 feet of a school and operating a drug factory.
In addition, Whitley was charged with criminal possession of a firearm.
The narcotics search warrant was served by city police along with members of the state police Statewide Narcotics Task Force East.
FIRE AT NEW LONDON HOME DISPLACES 8
New London — A fire that started in the second floor of a Summer Street home displaced eight members of a family Friday evening.
The blaze was reported about 8:30 p.m. No one was injured.
Mariana Soto, who lived at the 47 Summer St. address with her extended family, said she received a call that there was a fire upstairs and that her two children had to get out.
Her brother tried to put out the fire but couldn’t manage and had to run next door to the neighbor’s house, as well.
“We were just out buying furniture,” she said as she watched smoke continue to vent out of her children’s bedroom window. “I guess we’ll have to buy all new furniture.”
In total, there were five adults and three children living in the home. The Red Cross was assisting the in finding accommodations for the night.
New London Fire Chief Henry Kydd said that the department arrived quickly on the scene and began to attack the fire from downstairs as a ladder crew vented the roof.
As of 9:30 p.m. the fire was knocked down but not out, and firefighters had begun to salvage and overhaul the fire to preserve as much of the building as possible. The structure should be salvageable, Kydd said.
New London Battalion Chief Thomas Curcio said later Friday night that firefighters stayed on scene until about 10:15 p.m. after having to open up walls to get at hot spots. He said all of New London’s fire companies, Groton Ambulance and the Firefighter Assist and Search Team (FAST) from the Naval Submarine Base Fire Department all responded.
The building’s owners are listed as Leonardo Marrero Ulises and Porfirio Ramos of Waterford.
The fire marshal’s office is investigating the cause and origin of the fire.