Connecticut carjacking, stabbing suspects captured after pursuit through Massachusetts
Two carjacking and stabbing suspects from Connecticut were captured Thursday after a pursuit through Massachusetts, state police said in a statement.Around 10:20 a.m., state police transmitted a BOLO (Be On the Lookout alert) for a dark-colored Nissan Rogue wanted in relation to a crash, stabbing, and carjacking that had just taken place in Connecticut.A few minutes earlier, police in Putnam, Connecticut, responded to the Cumberland Farms on School Street for a report of a carjacking, Connecticut State Police said in a Facebook post.A man, later identified as Christopher Harding, 21, of Dayville, Connecticut, walked up to the victim’s car displaying a large knife and ordered the victim out of the car, before driving off on Route 171, according to police.Troopers then found the victim’s vehicle in Thompson, Connecticut, where it had been involved in a crash, according to police. Harding and a woman, later identified as Celina Cousineau, 21, of Dayville, Connecticut, were seen walking nearby.The two suspects proceeded to flag down two women driving by, police said. When they stopped, Harding allegedly ordered the driver to get out of the car before stabbing her in the forearm when she refused. He also cut the passenger when she went to help the other woman, according to police. Harding and Cousineau then fled in the women’s Nissan Rogue, police said.The victims were taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester and Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam for treatment of nonlife-threatening injuries, police said.A few minutes after the BOLO was circulated, a trooper spotted the suspect vehicle on Route 395. The Nissan got off Route 395 and onto Route 20 in Auburn before coming to a stop, Massachusetts State Police said.Harding allegedly tried to hit the state police cruiser as it pulled up and then drove into a neighboring parking lot, where he attempted to hit a second cruiser before fleeing back onto Route 20 toward Worcester, according to police.The pursuit continued through Worcester before ending in a cul-de-sac, where the Nissan tried to turn around in a driveway, hitting a cruiser and a car parked at a residence, police said. Harding and Cousineau were taken into custody without incident and neither them nor the troopers were injured.Harding is under arrest in Massachusetts for charges related to the pursuit itself, and Cousineau is being held as the incident remains under investigation, according to police.
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