A Madison police officer on patrol at the North Madison Fire House on March 20 when three SUVs came flying up Route 79 heading north at about 3 a.m. What looked like a case of erratic driving ended with a fatal accident in Durham in a vehicle stolen from a Madison resident. How the accident, which killed passenger Luis Martinez, 17, of Hartford, actually happened is not yet clear.

Madison Police Captain Joe Race said the officer in question, Cara Hewes, saw the vehicles go into the traffic circle at the intersection of Route 80 and Route 79 and make multiple loops. Hewes drove into the circle and then the cars headed north up Route 79. (See the dashcam footage that accompanies this story.)

“They take off going north and as soon as they hit the straightaway, they fan out going two wide and they just start zigzagging in and out of each other so they are going in both lanes up the hill,” he said.

Race said Hewes needed to close the distance between her and the three cars to identify the vehicles before she could put her lights on. Race said the cars were moving so fast it took a while for Hewes to catch up.

“At about County Road, the vehicles had slowed down enough that she could get close enough and signal her presence and put on her lights,” he said. “Again at this point we don’t know what we have—is it kids, is it drunks?—but hopefully they will stop. They don’t and they take off from right there.”

At this point, according to audio from the vehicle released to The Source/Zip06.com, Hewes called the police sergeant on duty. The sergeant asked if Hewes can identify the vehicles; Hewes could only confirm that it is three SUVs and the sergeant then tells her to disengage. Hewes can be seen in the video slowing down and turning around before the Madison/Durham town line.

“She followed the state model pursuit policy and she followed our policy,” said Race. “She put the lights on to try to stop them; the sergeant said ‘Kill the pursuit’ and she killed the pursuit.”

While Hewes was following the vehicles, Madison dispatch called Guilford, Clinton, and the State Police.

“[The dispatcher] said, ‘We are following a car moving at a high rate of speed, so if you have a trooper up in Durham, let them know,,” Race said. “So that is how state police knew to be up there.”

Near the intersection of Route 79 and South End Avenue in Durham, a 2016 Mercedes Benz GL550, presumably one of the three vehicles in the chase, “lost lateral stability and began to rotate in a counter-clockwise manner” according to a press release from State Police (see attached). The car began to roll and the passenger, Luis Martinez, a 17-year-old man from Hartford was ejected from the vehicle.

According to the release, “As a result of the collision sequence, Luis Martinez sustained life-threatening injuries and was transported to Middlesex Hospital for further evaluation and treatment. Martinez was pronounced deceased at Middlesex Hospital. Martinez was subsequently transported the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy”.

By the time of the accident, Hewes was almost back at the North Madison Fire House. However, in a 45-minute window after the accident, multiple state police officers called Madison Dispatch five times, all asking pretty much the same question: Was Hewes in close pursuit?

Hewes was not, according to video and audio evidence. Madison Police Chief Jack Drumm said the repeated question didn’t exactly add up because State Police seemed to have eyes on the scene around the time of the accident.

“They were telling us by communication with our dispatch that there were people running from a crash scene, so we had no idea how they knew that,” he said.

According to the release, “At the request of the Middletown State’s Attorney’s Office, the State Police - Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Squad assumed investigative responsibility of the collision. Anyone who witnessed the collision or the moments prior to the collision is asked to contact Trooper First Class Albert Gorski #935 at 203-630-5639 or albert.gorski@ct.gov.”

The Vehicle

It wasn’t until after the accident that Madison police were informed that the vehicle was stolen from a home on Island Avenue. Race said cars are being stolen week after week in town. Normally the stolen vehicles have been left unlocked, but Race said this incident was a little different.

“The car was locked,” he said. “The warning for people on this one is: The key fob was in the house, but it was close enough to the car for the car to start. The radius for your key fob is 25 feet or so. Everything is proximity-based.”

Officers were able to lift prints from the vehicle. Thus far, the other two vehicles that fled the scene have not yet been found. Race said residents need to pay attention and lock their cars.

“This has been week after week,” he said. “I just don’t know what else to tell people. This is happening all of the time and the epidemic of stolen cars is not slowing down.”