State police have charged the teen who is accused of crashing into a Hartford police cruiser, killing Hartford Detective Robert "Bobby" Garten and injuring Officer Brian Kearney, with manslaughter, driving under the influence and additional charges.
State police served 18-year-old Richard Barrington with a warrant Thursday, charging him with manslaughter in the first degree, assault in the first degree, reckless endangerment in the first degree, disobeying the direction of an officer resulting in death, driving under the influence, reckless driving and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.
Police said he was fleeing other police officers during a traffic stop when he struck the cruiser on Asylum Avenue that was responding to s different call on the night of Wednesday, Sept. 6.
Police said Kearney was hospitalized for eight days before he was released.
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Officers tried to stop Barrington on Broad Street in Hartford, near Interstate 84 because the vehicle he was driving had license plates that belonged to another vehicle, according to police reports, and Barrington sped off and struck the cruiser Garten and Kearney were in.
He told police that he saw police lights and thought authorities were trying to pass him, so he tried to get out of their way, then heard officers announce in a loud speaker to pull over, but he was scared because his vehicle was not registered and he had marijuana in his car, so and took off, the warrant says.
Barrington told investigators that he bought the Honda Accord in May but didn’t register it and bought a registration plate that was invalid from a friend, according to police.
Barrington, who had a learner’s permit, also told police that he’d lost the physical copy and had smoked marijuana about an hour before the crash, according to the arrest warrant.
Police said in the arrest warrant that they could smell marijuana from inside Barrington’s car and found marijuana in a backpack.
The arrest warrant says Barrington told police he did not remember the crash. The next thing he remembered was being in a hospital bed.
Barrington was held on a $1 million bond and is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.
