Crime & Safety

Police: Woman Smashes Cruiser Windshield During Arrest in Haddam

Police said 35-year-old Charlene Canova also kicked at a state trooper and damaged a police cruiser computer during a drive on Route 9 southbound.

A Cenral Village woman is facing multiple charges after police said she smashed a state police cruiser’s windshield, and kicked a police computer, after being taken into custody following a traffic stop on Route 9 on Tuesday.

Just before 8 p.m., Sgt. Michael Hassett, from the Connecticut State Police Troop F barracks in Westbrook, responded to Route 9 northbound between Exits 7 and 8 after the barracks received a number of 911 calls reporting an erratic female driver in a Buick, according to a police news release.

The driver, 35-year-old Charlene Canova, of 8 Main St. in Central Village, was pulled over between Exits 9 and 10 and was uncooperative when Hasset encountered her, police said. She refused a field sobriety test, which is a procedure done to determine whether the driver is under the influence of alcohol.

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Haddam Resident Trooper Enrico Milardo then got there to assist in the incident and, while the two troopers attempted to cuff Canova and place her in Milardo’s cruiser, she screamed profanities and was combative, police said.

They eventually succeeded in getting the suspect into the front seat, however while driving south toward the police barracks Canova slipped out of her handcuffs, police said. Milardo pulled the cruiser over into the shoulder near Exit 10, at which point Canova got out of the cruiser and attempted to flee on foot toward the tree line.

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“She continued to resist violently as I and Sgt. Hassett secured her in handcuffs again,” Milardo said in a news release.

After getting her back into the car, Canova proceeded to kick at Milardo as he was driving. She also kicked the interior driver mirror and the police cruiser’s computer.

In the area of Exit 3, Canova placed her feet up against the windshield and shattered it, police said. Eventually Milardo drove to a location where Canova was switched into a different police cruiser outfitted with a prisoner transport in the back seat.

Canova was hit with a number of charges including two counts of resisting an officer, second-degree criminal mischief, a criminal attempt to escape from custody, a refusal to submit fingerprints, driving under the influence, a failure to drive in the proper lane and following too closely.

Canova also sustained a minor cut to her foot from damaging the windshield. None of the troopers were injured.

She was held on a $10,000 bond and was taken to York Women’s Correctional Facility in Niantic where she was held until her arraignment in Middletown Superior Court today.


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