Two Branford police officers have been released from the hospital after a suspected car thief assaulted them and then struck them with a stolen car as he fled the scene, police said.
Michael Lear, 48, of Hull, Massachusetts, assaulted Officers Lue Sobieraj and Officer John Cassell in a struggle to avoid being taken into custody after police located him in a reported suspicious vehicle near 738 East Main Street in Branford at before 8 a.m. on Nov. 22, police said. Lear was able to get back into the car, which was reported stolen three days earlier in Wethersfield, and ran into the officers as he fled the scene, police said.
Sobieraj chased after him and alerted other responding officers about the vehicle description and the direction Lear was traveling, according to police. Branford police found the stolen car abandoned near the Stop & Shop at 22 Leetes Island Rd. and found Lear in front of the store entrance, police said.
Lear was again combative with police as they took him into custody, police said.
Both officers were hospitalized to be treated for arm and leg injuries. Branford Police Chief Kevin Halloran said that both Sobieraj and Cassell will be okay.
“I just visited both of our officers in the hospital and I’m hopeful they will be released soon," Halloran said in a statement on Saturday. "We are all grateful for the extraordinary work they do and thankful they weren’t inquired worse than they are.”
It's possible that the officers will have to be off the job for a couple weeks, but that's not clear at this time, police said.
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North Branford, Guilford and state police also responded to assist Branford police with the investigation and pursuit.
Police charged Lear with two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of assault on a police officer, breach of peace, second-degree larceny and interfering with an officer. He is being held in police custody on a $250,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned in New Haven Superior Court on Monday at 9 a.m.
