Hartford police arrested a convicted felon after finding a stolen gun in a car while investigating a motor vehicle crash in the capital city Friday night.
Alex Lopez, 32, of Bloomfield, is facing multiple weapons charges.
Police responded to the intersection of Woodland Street and Albany Avenue Friday at 2:43 p.m. after receiving reports of a motor vehicle crash with injuries. As police were responding, a dispatcher reported that an argument was underway at the crash site.
When police arrived, Lopez was bickering with Hartford firefighters and refusing to get out of his car, police said. He didn't listen to police either when a patrol officer ordered him out of the car. He tried to drive away, but firefighters had put wheel locks on his tires so he couldn't leave, police said.
The patrol officer opened his door and pulled Lopez from the car. Police said he seemed to be intoxicated or under the influence of drugs and that he was combatant and spoke incoherently.
After a struggle, police arrested Lopez and an ambulance transported him to Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford.
Police searched the car and found knotted plastic wrappings discarded that looked like packaging for crack and/or cocaine, police said. The floor mat had a bump under it and seemed to be "manipulated," so police looked underneath it and found a .40 caliber Glock model 23 pistol that was fully loaded, police said.
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The gun showed up in police records as stolen out of East Hartford. Police seized the gun.
Lopez, already a convicted felon, was charged with interfering with police, following too closely, having a weapon in a motor vehicle, criminal possession of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit.
