ANSONIA – Police arrested the woman accused of driving a Jeep which struck multiple vehicles before hitting a pole near Pershing Drive and Division Street and catching fire on March 8, injuring four people.
Amari Langston, 22, of Stratford, was charged with first-degree assault, second-degree assault with a motor vehicle, four counts of third-degree assault, driving under the influence, reckless driving, evading responsibility, two counts of failure to obey traffic signals, passing on the right, failure to register a motor vehicle, and driving without insurance, police said in a May 8 social media post.
The arrest took time because police had to obtain a warrant.
Police said they were initially called to the intersection of Bridge Street and West Main Street around 4:30 p.m. after a motorist reported that their car had been struck by a gray Jeep.
The Jeep was being driven by Langston, police said.
She allegedly fled the scene and continued south toward Pershing Drive, where she struck two more vehicles and crashed into a pole before the Jeep caught fire.
She was traveling at more than 90 miles per hour just before the second accident, according to police.
The accident injured all four passengers inside the Jeep, police said, with one passenger sustaining serious head and neck injuries. One person was injured in another car, according to Ansonia Police Lt. Patrick Lynch.
Lynch said there is no update on the critically injured passenger as of May 11.
During the following investigation, police found that Langston was driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.23 percent, nearly triple the legal limit in Connecticut. Officers arrested her on a warrant May 8.
Police also charged Malik Jackson, 24, of Bridgeport, with failure to insure a private motor vehicle. Jackson was the registered owner of the Jeep and was not in the car at the time of the accident, according to Lynch.
Langston’s bond was initially set at $200,000 and later lowered to $100,000, according to the state judicial website. Her next court date is June 5 at Superior Court in Derby.
Jackson’s next court date is May 21 at Superior Court in Derby, police said.