The Fairfield Avenue overpass on Interstate 95 was scorched by flames after a tanker truck ignited beneath it on Thursday, May 2, 2024, following an accident.
Patrick Sikes / For Hearst Connecticut Media
NORWALK — A Stamford motorcyclist had a permanently suspended driver’s license when he ignored a state trooper’s instructions and drove between a DOT worker and a Connecticut State Police patrol car to avoid a closed portion of Interstate 95 in the hours after last month’s bridge fire, according to the arrest warrant.
The motorcyclist, identified as Vladamir Ruales Espinoza, 31, turned himself in to state police last week on charges related to the incident. He has since posted $75,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in state Superior Court in Stamford on July 18, according to Connecticut State Police.
State police said they identified the motorcyclist as Ruales-Espinoza because a police officer recognized him as an old acquaintance.
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Attorney Darnell Crosland, who represents Ruales-Espinoza, said his client maintains his innocence.
“There are absolutely no independent witnesses that my client committed any crime of any kind,” he said Monday.
Crosland said she plans to take the case to trial and prove that the officer had a prior relationship with Ruales-Espinoza and that she has “an interest” in her client.
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“The state needs to drop this case immediately before it becomes embarrassing for the entire department,” he said.
The incident occurred on May 2 as state authorities were attempting to divert traffic off the highway after a fiery crash earlier that morning. The Fairfield Avenue overpass was engulfed in flames when a tanker truck carrying 8,500 gallons of fuel was involved in a crash with a tractor-trailer and a Chevrolet Camaro. Although no one was injured, the fire spread to the north and southbound lanes and burned the overpass, prompting authorities to close both sides of the highway.
The fire weakened the structure of the overpass and officials feared it would collapse. Crews eventually demolished the overpass and said it will take a year to rebuild.
That day, state police and DOT trucks were conducting a “slow roll” on I-95, occupying all lanes of the highway and telling other drivers not to pass, according to the police. order. As the rest of the traffic slowly followed behind the trooper’s cruiser, she saw in her side mirror an orange and white sport-style motorcycle passing traffic on the right, according to the warrant.
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The officer said he drove his patrol car to the right and activated his sirens to tell the motorcyclist to slow down and stay behind the rest of the traffic. However, the motorcyclist, identified as Ruales-Espinoza, accelerated up to the passenger window, according to the warrant.
Police said they recognized the motorcyclist as Ruales-Espinoza, a former acquaintance. Ruales-Espinoza called the officer by his name and then asked him if the highway had reopened, according to the warrant. The officer said it was not open and traffic was being diverted from Exit 14, according to the warrant. Ruales-Espinoza asked if he could go under the bridge, and the officer said he couldn’t and told him to stay behind his patrol car with the rest of the traffic, according to the warrant.
Ruales-Espinoza laughed and told the officer he had to get to New Haven, according to the warrant. The officer again told him to stay back and get off at Exit 14. The officer initially saw Ruales-Espinoza slow down and fall behind traffic, but moments later he motioned to a vehicle in the center lane to stop. to slow down or stop, police said. he wrote in the order.
Ruales-Espinoza then gained speed in the right lane, passed the trooper at a high rate of speed and weaved between the DOT trucks just ahead, according to the warrant.
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As Ruales-Espinoza headed north, the officer did not see any license plate on the back of the motorcycle, according to the warrant. The officer told what happened to a sergeant stationed at a cruiser who was looking for Ruales-Espinoza, according to the warrant.
As Ruales-Espinoza approached, the sergeant said the motorcyclist performed an evasive maneuver, weaving from the Exit 15 deceleration lane to the Exit 14 deceleration lane and then across the solid white lines of a paved area ( the triangular area between two diverging roads) that separated the two lanes, according to the order.
The sergeant said a DOT employee was in the bloody area, and Ruales-Espinoza passed between the worker and the officer’s patrol car, coming within 3 feet of the employee and “posing a high risk of striking him,” police said in the warrant. .
The sergeant moved his patrol car north toward Ruales-Espinoza and crept forward to tell him to stop, but the motorcyclist continued under the overpass and headed north, according to the warrant. The sergeant did not pursue Ruales Espinoza.
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State police said a video of the incident began circulating on social media, showing Ruales-Espinoza going between the sergeant’s patrol car and the DOT worker.
The investigating officer discovered that Ruales-Espinoza had a state driver’s license without a motorcycle endorsement and that his license had been permanently suspended in July 2023 due to several prior motor vehicle charges, according to the warrant.
The officer called Ruales-Espinoza on May 10 and explained that police were investigating an incident. Ruales-Espinoza told the officer that he would feel more comfortable if he spoke with his attorney, according to the warrant.
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Ruales-Espinoza turned himself in to state police on June 12. He was charged with reckless driving, first-degree reckless endangerment, operating under suspension, disobeying an officer’s signal, failure to display license plates and operating a motorcycle without an endorsement, according to Connecticut State Police.
Court records show Ruales-Espinoza has several pending cases, including three counts of unlawful operation of a motor vehicle while suspended and two counts of evading responsibility.
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