Burlington Police Chase Lands Maryland Man In Prison

WOBURN, MA — A 44-year-old Maryland man was sentenced to three years in state prison after pleading guilty to charges that he tried to run down a Burlington police officer, struck several vehicles, including a police cruiser, and was shot at during a police chase in 2014.

In Middlesex Superior Court on Thursday, Robert D. Haught Jr., of College Park, Md., was sentenced to three years in state prison followed by a year of probation after pleading guilty to:assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with a dangerous weapon, receiving stolen property (five counts), negligent operation of a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of property damage (three counts), failure to stop for police and resisting arrest.

A charge of armed assault to murder was dropped by prosecutors.

The incident began at about 7 p.m. on Aug. 11, 2014 when a Burlington Police Traffic Unit officer on patrol at Burlington Mall found a mini van idling in a handicapped space with no one in it. When the officer checked the plates, they came back to a different vehicle.

When the officer approached to the vehicle again, Haught entered through the passenger side door and sped away from police at the Burlington Mall, striking a police cruiser in the process. Police say that as Haught fled he tried to run down an officer who was directing traffic before crashing into two other vehicles.

Police said that when the officer approached to investigate, Haught entered through the passenger side door and sped away. Haught, according to police, crashed into a police car before he rounded a corner northbound near Cambridge and Center Streets, where an officer was standing to direct traffic.

That officer, according to the police report, feared for his life and as a result fired two shots from his service weapon as Haught allegedly drove towards the officer at a high rate of speed. Neither bullet struck Haught.

When the shots were fired, police said Haught swerved and hit two civilian vehicles in the southbound lane, coming to a rest near a utility police.

A female driver of one of those vehicles was taken to Lahey Hospital and Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries after her car was struck head on. Two children in the vehicle were uninjured.

Following the crash, police found in plain view in Haught’s vehicle a stack of credit cards and several high-end boxed electronics. Officers suspect that Haught was involved in credit card fraud.