Colchester, CT - 22 Y. Old Rocky Hill Female Arrested for DUI - Steals Police Car After Arrest - K-9 Tracks Her

Courant Staff Writer
July 26, 2008
COLCHESTER — - Five hours after being arrested on a charge of drunken driving, 22-year-old Stephanie Smith, of Rocky Hill, had sobered up and was released from custody at the state police barracks where she had been detained Friday morning.

Though free again shortly before 6 a.m., Smith's driver's license was now suspended and her car was impounded. She needed a ride, as walking any distance in the 3-inch stilettos she had on was out of the question.

With no immediate offer of a ride, she decided to take one — an unoccupied cruiser, according to state police — that had been parked outside the barracks.

"I have no idea what she was thinking," state police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said in a phone interview Friday after the cruiser had been recovered in Rocky Hill. "It's very, very bizarre."


According to state police, Smith had been stopped by a trooper on Route 2 in Colchester just before 1 a.m. After failing a field sobriety test, she was arrested and brought to the barracks for booking. She was released shortly before 6 a.m., and it was shortly after that that an unnamed trooper's cruiser went missing.

The cruisers are equipped with a tracking device, so finding it wasn't that hard. The cruiser ended up at an apartment complex at 500 Cold Spring Road in Rocky Hill, Vance said. When that location was checked against the address on Smith's arrest report, state police had some strong suspicions about how it got there.

Rocky Hill police and troopers from the barracks in Hartford went to the apartment complex and found the cruiser parked and unoccupied on Robinson Road. A police dog was brought to the scene to search for the driver. The dog went from the cruiser in the direction of the address police had for Smith.

Police were at the door of the Smith's apartment at 7:30 a.m. and arrested her for a second time in one day. This time, the charges were first-degree larceny and driving while her license is suspended.

Smith was arraigned on the theft and motor vehicle charge in Superior Court in Norwich. She was released after posting a $5,000 bond. Smith could not be reached for comment Friday.

Vance said state police have begun an internal investigation into whether the trooper to whom the cruiser was assigned followed departmental procedures for securing the vehicles.

"We want to see exactly what he did or didn't do," Vance said, "to see that he abided by the department's rules and regulations."
Back