Three teens arrested after crashing stolen cars while street racing on I-91 in Wallingford

Mike Mavredakis, Hartford Courant
Updated ·2 min read
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Three teens were arrested and charged after a street racing crash on Interstate 91 in Wallingford on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Connecticut State Police.

State police were called to I-91 South near Exit 13 in Wallingford around 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday for a reported two-car crash.

An Infiniti SUV was traveling in the left lane of I-91 and a Hyundai sedan was in the center lane next to the SUV when the two vehicles collided, state police said. Witnesses told police that the vehicles were traveling at high speeds before the crash.

The Infiniti veered into the median, hitting the metal guard rail and continuing across all lanes of traffic until hitting the wire rope in the right shoulder. The Hyundai also veered into the right shoulder and into the wire rope.

Both vehicles had been reported stolen, state police said.

According to state police, there were no injuries reported in the crash.

The occupants of each of the vehicles fled the scene on foot, state police said. A state police K-9 handler responded to the crash scene and conducted a search, which led to three teen boys, 18-year-old Robert John Barbera of Meriden and two juveniles aged 15 and 13 years old, who were stopped by Wallingford Police on Woodhouse Avenue. The three matched the descriptions of multiple witnesses to the accident, state police said. They were taken into custody by police on several charges.

Barbera and the 15-year-old were allegedly found in possession of cannabis, state police said.

Barbera was charged with a third offense of larceny of a motor vehicle, first-degree reckless endangerment, risk of injury to a child, first-degree criminal trover, interfering with an officer or resisting arrest, evading responsibility, first offense of possession of a controlled substance, reckless driving, illegal racing on a highway, operating a motor vehicle without a license and failure to drive in a proper lane. He was held on a $100,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in Meriden Superior Court on Wednesday.

The 15-year-old juvenile was charged with a second offense of larceny of a motor vehicle, first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree criminal trover, interfering with an officer or resisting arrest, evading responsibility, first offense of possession of a controlled substance, reckless driving, illegal racing on a highway, operating a motor vehicle without a license and failure to drive in a proper lane.

The 13-year-old was charged with a second offense of larceny of a motor vehicle, first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree criminal trover, interfering with an officer or resisting arrest, evading responsibility, reckless driving, illegal racing on a highway and failure to drive in a proper lane.

Both juveniles were released on promises to appear and were scheduled to appear in Middletown Juvenile Court on Wednesday.