[naviga:img class="img-responsive" src="/Assets/news2015/1116DayCharette.JPG" alt="William H. Charette"/]

William H. Charette

Ledyard — A pursuit that led officers through various parts of town Wednesday night ended when the driver struck a police cruiser and spun out, according to police.

Police said officers learned about 9:30 p.m. that an erratic driver was entering town on state Route 117. The motorist stopped for an officer just north of Hill Street, police said, but quickly took off again.

Up the road, an officer deployed stop sticks on Route 117 in Ledyard Center. The sticks deflated two of the car’s tires, police said, but the driver continued north on Route 117, west on Route 2A and then south on Route 12.

According to police, the operator was “driving on rims” by the time he reached Route 12. Police said the driver became increasingly reckless, passing cars and occasionally driving in the oncoming lane.

On Route 12 near Stonybrook Road in Gales Ferry, the motorist drove into a Ledyard police cruiser, which caused his car to spin out and strike a guardrail. As the vehicle came to a stop, state and town cruisers boxed it in. Police said they took the accused, 19-year-old William H. Charette, into custody without incident.

Charette, of 47 Hilltop Road, Mystic, was charged with engaging police in pursuit, reckless driving, failure to wear a seat belt and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Police said Charette sustained a minor injury in the wreck and was treated at a hospital and released. He is due Nov. 29 in New London Superior Court.

Charette faced similar charges when he was arrested by Ledyard police in September for an incident that occurred on Aug. 5. Court records show he has pending charges of reckless endangerment, reckless driving, disobeying the signal of an officer, passing in a no-passing zone and failure to obey a control signal. He was due to appear Friday in New London Superior Court in that case.