Police: Man Shot After Trying To Run Over Cops Charged & Jailed

LEDYARD, CT — The man Ledyard police shot on an icy January night after police say he tried to run over and kill them, turned himself in to troopers early Thursday morning, according to authorities.

Francisco Edwin Hernandez, 36, of Wethersfield, was being held on $150,000 bond, charged with two felonies in connection with the late-night incident on Lantern Hill Road.

According to the arrest warrant written by the Connecticut State Police Detective Frank A. Cuoco and provided to Patch, cops were on a routine patrol when a car being driven by Hernandez was traveling in the wrong lane, heading directly for a police cruiser.

The officer hit lights and siren and went after Hernandez’ car, a 2007 red Honda Civic. But, Cuoco reported, Hernandez took off speeding away northbound on Lantern Hill Road towards Indiantown Road.

The officer tried to stop Hernandez, described as driving erratically, flying at 50 in a 30 MPH zone on the icy, and winding, roadway, often in the wrong lane and nearly hitting two other cars on the road that night, the arrest report reads.

Cops put stop sticks ahead of him at an intersection and when he struck them, his car going off the roadway, but, the report reads, he got control of the car and kept going southbound on Route 117, passing the Ledyard Police Station at speeds of up to 70 MPH. Police say Hernandez kept going and forced three oncoming cars off the road.

The car then turned into a residential driveway and into the backyard, which is described as a sheet of ice. The car slid down a slope and got temporarily stuck in the frozen icy ground.

Police who had been chasing him got out of their car went to his and yelled for him to turn off the car and show his hands. He didn't comply, police said. Instead, the warrant reads, Hernandez revved the engine to try and free the car and an officer punched out the driver side window but Hernandez’ car gained traction, backed into a clearing and started speeding toward one of the cops trying to kill him, the report reads.

It was then that the two officers, and one who had arrived, began firing into the car.

A total of 15 shots hit the car and Hernandez was struck twice, in his forearm and chest. The car kept going as the man was slumped until it hit a tree. Police pulled him from the car and gave him first aid until paramedics arrived. Hernandez was taken to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital and soon transferred to Yale New Haven Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.

The next day, Hernandez’ brother called police to say he saw the incident on the news and that the man was his younger brother who was staying with him after getting out of prison. The brother told cops that Hernandez drove, without a license, to meet someone at Foxwoods and had been drinking. Police found a half-full large bottle of Gray Goose vodka in the car, the report reads.

The brother said he tried to talk Hernandez out of going saying he only had two months left on parole, but the man would not listen and left for the casino.

Nine months later, after a lengthy investigation by the CSP Eastern District Major Crime Squad,Hernandez turned himself in at 7 a.m. Thursday on the warrant that had been issued for his arrest. He was charged with felony criminal attempt to assault a public safety officer and interfering with an officer. He was held on $150,000 bond.