Police Chase Ends with Car Landing on Sleeping Man

By Myles Collier, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A high speed chase ended early Tuesday morning after the car crashed into the side of a house and pinned the resident underneath the car.

Michael Sweat, 34, was asleep in bed when the vehicle crashed through his bedroom wall pinning him for nearly an hour while firefighters tried frantically to set him free, according to New Haven Police Officer David Hartman.

The five mile long chase started in Hamden at around 12:30 a.m., after officers spotted a suspicious vehicle and discovered the car was registered to an owner wanted for multiple motor-vehicle violations, Hartman said.

According to reports police attempted to stop the BMW X5, but the driver instead drove off requiring police to engage in a pursuit that went from residential streets through to the Southern Connecticut State University campus and finally ending in New Haven.

Police officials in Hamden tried to stop the vehicle using "stop sticks" but were unable to do so. Police dispatchers then contacted New Haven police to alert them that the suspect was entering New Haven, Hartman said.

The suspect lost control in a New Haven neighborhood and crashed into a corner house. The BMW jumped the curb and then crashed right through the first floor bedroom wall. The vehicle came to rest on top of Sweat who was asleep in his bed, Hartman said.

While Sweat was trapped under the SUV, firefighters tried to determine if the house was safe enough to proceed inside.

According to a press release emergency personnel used "manual and pneumatic tools and timber to shore up the BMW and the home itself."

The process of removing Sweat from the scene took about one hour. While rescuers tried to free the trapped man paramedic's attended to Sweat's injuries which included second and third degree burns to his buttocks and lower extremities, but were not life threatening, Hartman said.

The suspect is still being sought by police.