Driver in Glastonbury rampage with 4 teen accomplices showed fatalism, bravado

Jun. 15—GLASTONBURY — As Darrell Duncan of Hartford got into the driver's seat of a Lyft driver's car to steal the vehicle behind the high school Sunday afternoon, Duncan said, "We actually gonna die," the Lyft driver told police.

But after crashing the car and being arrested at gunpoint following a foot chase minutes later, Duncan was feeling less fatalistic, telling police officers, "I did y'all on a flat tire," according to a report by police Officer Matthew L. DiLorenzo.

Those statements came at the end of a sequence of events lasting about three hours Sunday afternoon in which Duncan and four other teenagers are accused of driving around town in a BMW sedan stolen in Tolland the day before, while the older teens committed a series of crimes.

During the ride, Duncan and his half-brother, Branden Duncan, both 18 and of Hartford, and Christopher Collins, 18, of East Granby are accused of attempting six vehicle burglaries that netted only two pairs of designer sunglasses, valued at $500, from a single car.

Along with these three adults, two juvenile accomplices — a 15-year-old Enfield boy and a 16-year-old Hartford boy — were also arrested, police said.

Darrell Duncan is also facing a plethora of charges stemming from wild driving that police allege he engaged in while fleeing from them, which resulted in three crashes involving two stolen cars — the BMW and the Lyft driver's Honda sedan — and three cars of other drivers.

In Manchester Superior Court on Monday, Judge Peter McShane doubled Darrell Duncan's bond from $130,000 to $260,000 while leaving the bonds of Branden Duncan and Collins at $125,000 each. Branden Duncan's family was seeking to post the bond Monday so he could be released.

GLASTONBURY ARRESTS

WHO: 5 suspects — 3 adults, 2 juveniles

WHEN: Arrested Sunday afternoon in Glastonbury

During Darrell Duncan's arraignment, the judge called Sunday's events a "crime spree" and "reprehensible."

None of the three adult suspects has a past criminal conviction. But Darrell Duncan has a pending first-degree larceny case involving a vehicle, a bail commissioner told the judge. He is also facing a misdemeanor drug charge in that case.

The other two adult suspects don't even have pending cases or "alternative docket matters," the bail commissioner said. The judge acknowledged Collins' lack of a record but called his conduct "out of control."

The two juveniles are charged only with single counts of second-degree larceny, although police say they may seek additional charges. Both have been summoned to appear in juvenile court and have been released to guardians, police say.

Police learned of the situation around 1:35 p.m. Sunday when they began to receive a rapid-fire series of calls about attempts by males in dark clothes to break into vehicles in the Great Pond neighborhood before leaving each scene in the BMW.

As the BMW went north on Main Street from the area of the burglaries, it sideswiped another vehicle at the Hopewell Road intersection while trying to pass, according to a report by Officer Laura T. Caruso. She reported that a fellow officer saw the BMW head up Main Street with a broken front axle and its passenger-side front tire appearing sideways.

After entering the limited access section of Route 17, police say, the BMW rear ended another vehicle, causing it to hit a third vehicle and making it impossible to drive the BMW. One of the other drivers was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, police say.

The five teens fled the BMW, according to police, and one of them called the Lyft ride sharing service. The Lyft driver told police that he called back when he "observed the police presence on Buttonball Lane," and the caller agreed to meet him at the high school.

The Lyft driver told police he was clearing things out of his car to make way for the five teens when four of them got in and Darrell Duncan told him to drive. The driver said he refused, at which point Darrell Duncan got into the driver's seat and drove away. The driver said none of the teens threatened him or indicated that they had weapons.

The stolen car promptly crashed into a fence behind the high school, and the five teens fled on foot. But they ultimately lay face down on the ground after DiLorenzo followed them in a police cruiser, then got out and drew his gun, the officer reported. Glastonbury and East Hampton officers handcuffed the teens.

For updates on Glastonbury, and recent crime and courts coverage in North-Central Connecticut, follow Alex Wood on Twitter: @AlexWoodJI1, Facebook: Alex Wood, and Instagram: @AlexWoodJI.