A New Haven man has been charged with kidnapping and other offenses after he tried to steal a police car with an officer inside.
At 10:43 p.m. Sunday two officers were parked outside a substation during their patrol while one was inside the building and a second stayed in the passenger seat to fill out a report, New Haven police said in a statement emailed to the Daily News on Monday. Suddenly Stacey Footman, a “male well known to officers in the district from numerous arrests and encounters” walked up to the driver’s side and started yelling at the officer to get out of the car.
Just as the cop unlocked the doors to comply, Footman yanked open the driver’s side door and got behind the wheel as his now-captive cop tried to push him out. Footman, police said, threw the car into drive and slammed on the accelerator. The officer, fearing they would hit a pedestrian or another car, grabbed the wheel, “causing it to immediately crash into a church” across the street, the department said.
By this time the officer’s partner had emerged from the substation building and arrested Footman, 49, on charges related to the incident plus two outstanding warrants. Police noted that Footman was clutching “a small glass pipe” just after the crash. Both he and the officer sustained minor injuries, police said, and Footman was still hospitalized Monday, held under police guard on $500,000 bond. The officer was treated and released.
Footman has been charged with second-degree larceny, kidnapping and criminal trover, as well as assault of public safety personnel and interfering with an officer. Alleging that Footman’s actions were an attempt “to be in a suicide by police officer,” New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson commended his officers for averting what could have been a disaster.
“This is yet another example of the inherent risks that police officers face daily, and even when sitting in a cruiser you are marked for violence due to your job,” Jacobson said in the police statement. “To have a dangerous individual attempt to kidnap an officer and steal a marked police car is outrageous.”
