On the evening of Monday, June 4, Bridgeport police pursued a vehicle from Bridgeport into Monroe and then into Newtown in seeking to stop a driver for reported illegal firearms possession, according to police.

Newtown police spokesman Lieutenant Aaron Bahamonde said June 5 that Bridgeport police had been pursuing the unidentified fleeing motorist on northbound South Main Street (Route 25) until they lost sight of that vehicle in the area near Highland Plaza, 123 South Main Street, at about 6:30 pm.

At that point, several Newtown police officers were dispatched to that area in seeking to find the fleeing vehicle. They searched side streets in that vicinity, but did not locate the vehicle in question, Lt Bahamonde said.

At 7:19 pm, Newtown police learned from state police that the vehicle had crashed on Interstate 84 in the Waterbury area and that the driver fled the scene on foot, Lt Bahamonde said. The offender was later taken into custody, he added.

Calls to Bridgeport police and state police seeking information on the incident were not immediately returned.