Police arrested a man Friday afternoon who allegedly crashed his car into a utility pole and then punched his girlfriend in the face on Hawthorne Avenue.
Luckily, no major injuries were reported, though the young woman was nursing a badly swollen lip on the sidewalk.
The whole thing started at about 1:45 p.m. when a dark-colored sedan crashed head-on into a utility pole on Hawthorne Avenue between Coppola Terrace and North Avenue.
It quickly went from a routine car accident into a police investigation after the young woman said a man had punched her in the face and ran toward Coon Hollow Road. For a moment the term “car jack” was tossed about.
Police from Derby and Ansonia converged on the area to locate the suspect. There are a lot of woods around nearby Derby High School, but the suspect apparently walked west on Hawthorne.
I was in the Valley Indy office in Ansonia, and texted my wife, who was also at work, to have her tell our babysitter that some knucklehead was loose near our home.
My wife called me and said that no one was home at my house — but the garage in the rear of my house was wide open.
That made me very, very nervous.
The last thing I need is some knucklehead hiding under my couch, though he could never fit because of the sheer volume of Lego Duplus stuffed under there. The Legos are not mine. I have kids.
Panicked, I high-tailed it from 158 Main St. in Ansonia to my house on Hawthorne. By “high-tailed” I mean like 30 mph. I drive a 2007 PT Cruiser in desperate need of a water pump.
Anyway, I pulled into my driveway and saw a police officer drive by, but I felt like a dork, so I didn’t ask him to check my house for the knucklehead.
I looked in my garage and saw an empty 18 pack of Corona remained untouched.
At that point I saw my neighbor, John. He told me a guy had just walked down his driveway, into my yard, and down the cliff that is the end of my backyard.
The steep wooded hill empties into Derby’s most annoying parking lot on Park Avenue.
How the guy managed to traverse that hill without breaking his legs is beyond me.
It’s pretty much a cliff lined with leaves and old car parts. I’ve lost my kid’s bouncy ball and a garbage can lid down that embankment, never to be seen again. If I had the money I would put up a fence.
Anyhoo, John said a police officer came into the yard moments after the suspect did, asking which way the guy went.
The police officer looked in my garage, for which I am very grateful. It was instant piece of mind.
John said he could then hear the cops ordering the suspect to “get on the ground” at the bottom of the hill. And then I showed up, late for my own breaking news.
I drove down to the accident scene near Coppola Terrace, took a photo of the car, and confirmed with police that a suspect had been apprehended and had, in fact, been in my yard.
I thanked two officers for making sure my house was safe. I have a 4‑year-old and a 2‑year-old, you know?
I drove back to my house and closed the garage, which took about seven attempts, because I also need a new garage door, which explains why it was left open in the first place.
Then I drove down to Park Avenue and saw the guy in the back of the police car.
Later, I called Derby police. Here’s what they pieced together. They classified it as a domestic incident.
The couple lives on Hawthorne Avenue and got into an argument. The woman tried to walk away up Hawthorne Avenue. He got into his car and tried to cut her off, but crashed into the utility pole instead. Then he got out and punched the woman in the face, police said.
He faces several charges, including assault with a motor vehicle and violating a protective order. The young woman allegedly wasn’t honest with police, so she faces an interfering charge, along with some other charges.
Have a nice weekend, everybody!
