A man who had allegedly been drinking and smoking marijuana before he was pulled over on Interstate 91 on Wednesday was tracked down by the state police aviation unit after he fled a traffic stop and later took off on foot.
The driver, identified as 28-year-old Assawni Hoilett of Hartford, was stopped on I-91 South at the Exit 27 off-ramp after a trooper allegedly saw him driving erratically at slow speeds in a vehicle with a misused and canceled registration, according to Connecticut State Police.
Hoilett, who was driving a Nissan Altima, initially stopped but allegedly took off very quickly as a trooper approached the vehicle, state police said. The agency’s aviation unit, which was in the area, then began tracking the vehicle.
A video released by state police shows portions of the track, where authorities could be heard providing live updates about Hoilett’s location as he drove through Hartford. He stopped at the rear of a residence on Laurel Street where troopers converged and boxed the vehicle in, state police said.
Hoilett then allegedly fled on foot and at one point appeared as though he was going to get on a bus at a nearby bus stop, the video shows. He was later apprehended after the aviation unit tracked his movements through the sky.
According to state police, Hoilett allegedly showed signs of impairment and admitted to drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana before getting behind the wheel. He failed field sobriety testing and was taken to Troop H in Hartford, state police said.
Hoilett faces charges of reckless driving, engaging police in pursuit, disobeying the signal of an officer, driving under the influence, failure to renew registration, operating an unregistered motor vehicle, falsifying license, marker or registration, failure to display plates, operating without the minimum insurance, operating under suspension, operating at too slow of speeds, passing in a no passing zone, failure to drive in the proper lane, violating traffic control signals, improper rearview mirror, violation of tinted glass requirements and interfering with police.
Hoilett was held on a $50,000 bond and was expected to face a judge on Thursday in Hartford Superior Court.