By Nicholas Rondinone and Christine Dempsey

The Hartford Courant

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — Austin Haughwout, the Clinton teenager who grabbed national headlines earlier this week for his YouTube video showing a drone that fired a gun, has been charged with assaulting two police officers, police said.

Haughwout was also the focus of widespread news coverage last year when police charged a woman with assault after she confronted him at a state beach about flying a drone there. He recorded the assault with his cellphone camera and posted the video online.

Haughwout, of Egypt Lane, was arrested Wednesday on two counts of assault on a police officer and one count of interfering with an officer, a court clerk said. He was arraigned Thursday at Superior Court and released after posting bond. His bail had been set at $12,500.

Haughwout has not responded to attempts to reach him for comment. Police said Thursday the charges had nothing to do with the video of the gun-firing drone.

In a statement posted on his YouTube account Thursday night accompanying a 17-minute video of the encounter with police in the library parking lot, Haughwout refuted the claim that he hit his head into the floor and said he was assaulted by officers at the police station "until I vomited and passed out."

"I woke up 45 minutes later in the hospital stripped naked," he wrote.

Haughwout said he would post video taken inside the police station by his GoPro camera "assuming it has not been deleted or destroyed."

"This is not the first time that the Clinton Police Department has harassed me and my family and I suspect that this incident is in reaction to my recent video about my multirotor project and also in response to litigation I currently have pending against them on unrelated matters," he said.

His recent video of the gun-firing drone has been viewed more than 2 million times.

Police called Haughwout Wednesday and asked him to turn himself in on an arrest warrant stemming from a confrontation with a police officer at Henry Carter Hull Library on Sunday night, according to a police report.

He came to the department at about 8 p.m. and began arguing with the officer who was trying to arrest him, according to the report, and another officer saw Haughwout trying to leave but being blocked.

Haughwout was yelling and flailing while attempting to get to the door, and when officers attempted to take Haughwout to the ground, one saw that he was clutching a GoPro camera in his left hand, the report said. He continued to yell and was trying to hit his head into the floor and nearby door, refused to stand up and was yelling "help me," the report says. Several officers had to carry him to the booking area past the front lobby, the report said.

He was taken to the Middlesex Hospital Shoreline clinic after he vomited in the booking area of the police department, the report said. While there, staff found a cellphone hidden in his underwear, according to the police report.

During the confrontation at the library Sunday, an officer approached a car that had been seen in the parking lot, but the car backed up and headed for the exit, according to the arrest warrant. Despite being waved down by an officer, the car didn't stop until the officer flipped on his car's emergency lights.

According to the warrant, a burglary had occurred at the rear patio of the library in the past and the officer wanted to check that another hadn't occurred.

The officer pulled up next to the car and reported hearing the driver screaming: "Do you suspect me of a crime? Do you suspect me of an infraction?" the warrant said.

The officer reported that he could see that Haughwout was the driver, the warrant said. Haughwout told the officer he was there using the library's Wi-Fi, the warrant said.

Haughwout attempted to drive off, but stopped again after the officer turned on his car's lights, the warrant said. The officer called for backup because Haughwout was known to have access to guns and the officer knew about the gun-firing drone video, the warrant said.

Haughwout drove out of the library parking lot onto Killingworth Turnpike when the other officer arrived, according to the warrant. After one of the officers briefly turned on the police car's sirens, Haughwout stopped in the middle of the northbound lane, the warrant said. One of the officers parked his police car in front of Haughwout's to keep him from driving off again, the warrant says.

Haughwout refused to put his car in park and began screaming, the warrant said. The officers told him he was being stopped for an investigative detention, and Haughwout responded: "That's illegal. Without a crime or infraction you cannot detain a person," the warrant said.

Responding to Haughwout's question about why he was being detained, an officer said that Haughwout had broken the law by engaging them in a pursuit, the warrant said. Haughwout disagreed, saying he had asked if he was suspected of a crime and that he couldn't flee if he had no reason to believe they were trying to stop him.

According to the warrant, the back and forth between Haughwout and the officers continued until a sergeant arrived, at which point Haughwout rolled up his windows and refused to speak.

The sergeant directed the officers to release Haughwout out of fear that he would ram a police car, hit an officer or start another pursuit, according to the warrant. The officers were told to pursue charges through an arrest warrant.

In May 2008, Haughwout's father, Bret Haughwout, was arrested when police found firearms, including a banned assault weapon, and illegal fireworks inside the family's garage at their home on Egypt Lane, according to court records released after the arrest. He was charged with possession of an illegal assault rife, possession of fireworks and risk of injury to a minor.

"The firearms were in an unlocked trunk, along with ammunition to the firearms. In the same area with the firearms, we located the unsecured fireworks. These items would be easily accessible to anyone in the garage, including [juveniles] who reside at the residence," according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

The disposition of the cases could not be determined.

Haughwout's brother, Christian Haughwout, was also charged a week before Bret Haughwout with bringing a dangerous weapon to school. He was 14 years old at the time. He was suspended for 10 days. The weapon was described as a doctored disposable camera that emitted electrical shocks.

The family filed a federal lawsuit in response, which was later settled.

Haughwout's 14-second video on YouTube shows a four-propeller drone with a semiautomatic handgun strapped on top hovering as it fired four shots in woods.

Haughwout's father told WFSB-TV that his son created the drone with help from a Central Connecticut State University professor. The professor told The Courant that he did not help Haughwout, however, and that he instead discouraged him from the project.

Professor Edward Moore said he told Haughwout the drone was a "terrible idea."

The FAA said it is working with Clinton police to investigate whether Haughwout violated regulations that prohibit the careless or reckless operation of a model aircraft.



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