Maryland Man Charged With Attempted Murder Following Monday Chase and Crash

A Maryland man is facing a laundry list of charges after allegedly attempting to run down a police officer and striking several vehicles during a police chase on Monday night in Burlington.

Burlington Police Chief Michael Kent announced that officers arrested Robert D. Haught Jr., 42, of College Park, Md., on Monday after he crashed a white minivan on Cambridge Street near Center Street.

According to police, Haught sped away from police at the Burlington Mall, striking a police cruiser in the process. In addition, police accuse Haught of attempting to run down an officer who was directing traffic before crashing into two other vehicles.

Following the crash, Kent said that 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.

Kent said police as of late Monday night were seeking a search warrant for the vehicle and more charges may have been added to the ones issued at the scene.

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

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.

Burlington Police placed the officer who fired the shots on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation, which Kent said is standard procedure for an officer-involved shooting.

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.

The 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.

Haught was charged with assult with intent to murder, attempted murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident with property damage, two counts of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident with person injury, failure to stop for police, attaching plates, marked lanes violations, speeding and reckless operation.

Haught was held by the Burlington Police Department and was expected to be arraigned on Tuesday in Woburn District Court.