Man accused of trying to carjack pregnant woman in Connecticut drive-thru

EAST HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — East Haven police are commending the Dunkin Donuts employees who jumped in when they saw a man violently trying to carjack a pregnant woman’s vehicle in their drive-thru Tuesday evening.

With their help, police were able to arrest the suspect, who police say is facing a multitude of charges in this case and others.

Police were dispatched to the Dunkin Donuts on Foxon Road around 7:44 p.m., after an employee working the drive-thru witnessed the attack and alerted other employees.

The suspect allegedly parked his vehicle directly in front of the victim’s car while she waited at a the drive-thru window, then exited his vehicle and got into the passenger’s side of hers, demanding her keys.

When she said no, he allegedly began punching her. Police said she was able to get out and ran inside the Dunkin Donuts for help.

Meanwhile, two male employees ran outside and confronted the suspect, who apparently was having trouble operating the victim’s vehicle. They were able to get him out of the vehicle and restrain him until police arrived.

The employees are now being called heroes.

“They did a real good deed. It’s a good thing they did you know a pregnant lady anything could have happened, so thank god they stepped in,” Jonathan Ortiz, who is the manager at the nearby AT&T, said.

After a brief struggle, police said he was taken into custody. While getting medical attention from the East Haven Fire Department, the suspect is also accused of biting a medic’s hand.

He was transported to a hospital before being processed at the East Haven Police Department.

“It’s shocking,” said Yasmin Quintanilla, who was shopping at the plaza. “I’ve seen it before happen and I get scared.”

The vicious attack has women shopping in the plaza on high alert.

“You’re not safe, daytime, nighttime you’re not safe. I get out of the car, and I’m scared to bring my wallet with me like what is it going to get snatched, you have to hide your car keys, hide everything and I’m just afraid walking around with a kid it’s just not safe,” Quintanilla said.

The suspect was identified as 26-year-old William Rodriguez of New Haven. Rodriguez faces multiple charges from this incident, including:

• second-degree breach of peace
• assault on emergency medical personnel
• third-degree robbery
• second-degree reckless endangeerment
• assault on a pregnant person
• third-degree assault
• interfering with an officer
• two counts of larceny of a motor vehicle

Police said the vehicle he was driving at the time was a 2016 Hyundai Elantra reported stolen from New Haven.

Rodriguez was held on a $250,000 bond for charges in the attempted carjacking.

According to police, he also had multiple outstanding warrants totaling $475,000 and two outstanding warrants from CSP Troop A and Troop I.

He was scheduled to be arraigned in court on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

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