Suspect Accused Of Using Car To Assault Federal Agents In Bridgeport

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A 32-year-old Torrington man was arrested this week following an indictment charging him with assaulting five federal law enforcement officers last year, announced United States Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery.

Dennis Lee Waiters was indicted by a federal grand jury in Bridgeport on Oct. 5, and he was arrested on Thursday. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Dave Vatti, and is detained pending a detention hearing that is scheduled for Monday.

According to allegations made in court documents and statements, on June 15, 2021, members of the FBI’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force and Bridgeport Police Department investigating gang-related violence and the potential for a retaliation shooting attempted to stop a car Waiters was driving in Bridgeport.

"The law enforcement vehicles had activated their lights and sirens, and officers exiting the vehicles wore vests bearing the letters 'FBI' and 'POLICE,'" according to a statement by Avery. "Instead of stopping, Waiters drove into the federal law enforcement officers and their vehicles, crashing into three different law enforcement officers' vehicles and into a civilian motorist. One officer fired into Waiters' car as it headed toward the officer, causing the car to veer into another law enforcement vehicle and, ultimately, to crash into a pole. When Waiters' car stopped, a passenger in the car attempted to flee the scene, leaving behind a semiautomatic pistol in the car, but was apprehended."

The indictment charges Waiters with assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal officers, an offense that carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Avery stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force and the Bridgeport Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Kale.