West Hartford police arrested a mom who is accused of crashing into cars as she fled from police with her two children in tow, then later hid from officers who were trying to take her into custody.
Police said Amber Johnson, 32, of Manchester, fled from New Britain police officers who stopped her on April 18, crashed into several vehicles in West Hartford while her two children were in her car and then fled the scene, ignoring police demands to stop, police said.
On July 30, police went to Johnson’s home on Ruby Drive in Manchester to take her into custody.
Johnson had been avoiding police officer’s calls and each time officers went out to serve a warrant, Johnson's mother would say she was not there and did not know where she was, police said.
So this time, West Hartford police met with Manchester Police and sent maintenance crews over to determine if Johnson was home.
After the maintenance staff confirmed Johnson was there, West Hartford officers approached, knocked on the front door several times and announced they were there.
Manchester Police Officer Celio also contacted a supervisor, who responded, then went to the rental office to get a maintenance employee to come back with a key to the apartment, police said.
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As officers were inside the residence, they heard someone on the second floor of the apartment and called out to Johnson, who continued to ignore police, so they released a K9 to search for her.
Then officers secured the dog because they thought Johnson might be with her children.
When they opened the door, police officers ordered Johnson to show her hands and get on the
ground as the Manchester police officers moved in and took her into custody.
Johnson was then brought to the police station and charged with two counts of risk of injury to minor, reckless endangerment, evading responsibility, reckless driving, and failure to obey a traffic control signal.
She was released on a $5,000 non-surety bond and is due to appear in Hartford Superior Court on Aug. 13.
