Crime & Safety

Norwalk Police: How Many Crimes You Can Commit After 2 AM

Here's a count of the ways that Norwalk police say Hakim Smith, 25, of Stamford, violated the law in ways dangerous to passers-by, police and himself.

Norwalk police say that as the bars in South Norwalk were closing in the wee hours of Saturday, a Stamford man struck a pedestrian, knocked over a concrete barrier, sped away from cops and crashed at a construction site.

According to police, no serious injuries resulted from the reported mayhem.

At about 2 a.m., Norwalk police were conducting selective enforcement activities in the Webster Street parking lot between 50 Washington Street and the Bow Tie cinema in South Norwalk when they say the series of incidents began with Hakim Smith, 25, of Stamford.

Police say the parking lot was crowded with many pedestrians and cars moving as bars closed, particularly with many people leaving an event at nearby La Torche club, police said. Roads were wet after rain earlier that night.

Here's a numbered list of what Norwalk police say happened (an accusation not proven in court):

1. Police saw someone drive a red Nissan Altima erratically in the parking lot, then

2. strike a pedestrian (who later told police he or she was not hurt enough to go to a hospital), and then

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3. strike a parked car.

A police officer on foot tried to stop the Altima and knocked on the window. The car then

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4. sped away from police toward the parking lot exit. As it did so, the vehicle

5. jumped the curb in the Washington Street driveway and crashed into a concrete bollard (a pole-like barrier) in the median strip before

6. striking the front of a patrol car driven by a police sergeant headed toward the commotion. Then the Altima

7. fled west on Washington Street and north on Fairfield Avenue, with the sergeant in the patrol car in hot pursuit. The Altima turned east onto Reed Street, crossed West Avenue (here's the route from the point the car would have passed the South Norwalk Branch Library to the intersection of Reed Street and West Avenue), and then the car

8. crashed through the metal chain link fence surrounding a construction site that's part of the 95/7 highway construction project, and finally came to a stop after crashing into the fence and embankment near the I-95 northbound on-ramp. The car came to a stop, that is. Smith 

9. resisted arrest, violently struggling with arresting police officers, causing one officer to deploy his Taser. Other officers then got control of Hakim and handcuffed him.

The sergeant's back was bothering him after the crash at the parking lot exit onto Washington Street, but the officer refused medical attention at that time.

Smith appeared to have injuries from the crash, so he was taken to Norwalk Hospital, where he was treated and released.

According to state Department of Motor Vehicles records, his driver's license was suspended in October 2008. He was not the registered owner of the car he was driving.

Smith was held on a $20,000 bond and, if he is bonded out, is due to appear April 8 in state Superior Court in Norwalk.

So how many violations of the law can you commit with all that? He was charged with disobeying the order of an officer, resisting arrest, engaging police in pursuit, driving with a suspended license, reckless driving, failure to carry an insurance card and five counts of evading responsibility after a motor vehicle accident. That's 11.

But the answer is that we still don't know: Police expect to apply for a search and seizure warrant for hospital records of any drug or alcohol levels that may be found in his blood test results. That could result in a charge of driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.



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