CT man found with woman in ‘distress’ facing kidnapping charges following pursuit by state police

An East Hartford man faces kidnapping and other charges after he was found with a woman in “distress” following a police pursuit that started when he allegedly sideswiped an ambulance on Interstate 91 in East Windsor on Thursday night.

Ryan Gilbert, 31, faces a slew of charges including those of second-degree kidnapping, operating under the influence, reckless driving, engaging police in pursuit, traveling unreasonably fast, illegally obstructing an emergency vehicle, driving the wrong way on a divided highway, second-degree reckless endangerment, use of drug paraphernalia, interfering with police and a number of motor vehicle offenses, according to Connecticut State Police.

Troopers pursued Gilbert, who was driving a 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier, following a crash on I-91 South just after 10:40 p.m. on Thursday. Gilbert was merging onto the highway from the Exit 44 on-ramp when he allegedly sideswiped an ambulance that was heading south in the right lane of four, state police said. A patient in the ambulance was on their way to the hospital, troopers noted.

No injuries were reported.

According to state police, Gilbert took off after the collision and, when troopers tried to conduct a motor vehicle stop, he engaged them in pursuit. State police said troopers trying to pull the vehicle over noticed a woman who was a passenger in “obvious distress” and believed she was in “imminent danger.”

State police allege that Gilbert intentionally struck multiple police cruisers and was eventually boxed in by troopers and Hartford police officers. Once he was stopped, state police said troopers noticed he was disoriented and had “pinpoint pupils.”

According to state police, he refused to take a field sobriety test.

Gilbert was held on $100,000 bond and was expected to be arraigned Friday in Hartford Superior Court.