02/19/16 Hartford, CT – Man With Psychiatric And Drug Problems Jumps Into Police Cruiser – Officer Takes Him Out At Gun Point – Suspect Says He Was Going To Take It

February 19, 2016

journalinquirer.com

A South Windsor man with drug and psychiatric problems is accused of trying to steal a Hartford police cruiser, telling the officer who arrested him at gunpoint, “I wanted to go home, and I wanted to take your police car.”

Michael Ingalls, 24, of 24 Indian Trail, is charged with attempted third-degree larceny in the incident, which occurred Wednesday afternoon outside a convenience store next to the Hartford police station.

Ingalls remained jailed today in lieu of $125,000 bond in the case, records show, although he had previously posted $275,000 in bond in three cases he has pending in Manchester Superior Court.

Officer Chris White reported parking on High Street in Hartford and going into the convenience store to buy a bottle of water, then seeing Ingalls open the door of the officer’s marked police cruiser and get in.

White reported ordering Ingalls out of the cruiser at gunpoint and arresting him without incident.

The officer said in a police report that Ingalls was reported “to have stopped taking his mental health medication and was alleged to have been abusing illegal narcotics.” When asked, Ingalls said he had smoked crack cocaine the day before the incident but denied using illegal drugs on the day it occurred, the officer reported.

Ingalls had been reported missing in South Windsor, the officer added.

At Ingalls’ arraignment Thursday in Hartford Superior Court, public defender Sonia Jones said he has “mental health issues” but also has “family support.”

Judge Carl E. Taylor set the $125,000 bond with conditions that Ingalls not drive unless he is validly licensed and not possess illegal drugs or related paraphernalia.
In the most serious of the previous cases against Ingalls, he is accused of using mixed martial arts tactics against Manchester and Vernon police officers who arrived at the Motel 6 on Hartford Turnpike on the town line in response to a report that Ingalls was overdosing on heroin.

He punched one officer in the face, breaking the officer’s glasses, cutting his face, and injuring his eye in the incident, which occurred last March 14, Manchester police Capt. Christopher Davis has said. Ingalls sprained another officer’s ankle in the incident, according to the captain.

Ingalls is charged with second-degree assault, two counts of assaulting police officers, and other crimes in that incident.