'Street Takeover' Ringleader Free On Bond After Arraignment

MANCHESTER, CT — A 20-year-old Norwalk resident state police are calling a "ringleader" in street-racing style street takeovers in Connecticut was released from custody Monday after posting a $250,000 bond at his arraignment in Manchester Superior Court.

Jefferson Duron is due back in court on June 29, judicial system records show. He has been charged with first-degree rioting, inciting to riot, first-degree reckless endangerment, reckless driving and two motor vehicle violations, records show.

In an arrest report issued after Duron was taken into custody Monday, state police said they had been working for several months to identify those involved in a series of "street racing" events around the state that have turned violent.

"These events are continuing to be investigated," state police said. The events involve upwards of 200 people who clog streets and commuter lots to cheer on several cars, whose drivers perform burnouts, and racing maneuvers. Fires are often set and fireworks are set off, state police said. Coordinated events took place Sunday in Tolland, Hartford and New London counties, state police said.

One example, state police said, was an incident in Tolland Sunday night that led to clogged intersections near a shopping plaza and on the town green. Baseball bats were used to damage cars, according to authorities.

A similar incident in Manchester led to a murder charge against a Springfield, MA, man in 2020. The defendant in that case, Gregory Critchlow, is due back in court two days before Duron, but in Hartford. He has been held on a $2 million bind since his arrest in the fall of 2020 on two murder charges. The shooting took place at 1:50 a.m. on Aug. 2, 2020, at the DOT commuter lot at Buckland Street and Pleasant Valley Road in Manchester. Between 100 and 200 people gathered for what was described in a warrant as a "racing" event. Racing events are typically used to show off aftermarket modifications to vehicles, polices said.

Two people were shot at the gathering as tensions escalated and later died, records show.

Each law enforcement jurisdiction is handling its own incidents, state police said. State police made the arrest in Manchester because the incident took place at a state Department of Transportation commuter lot and in Tolland because it is a resident state trooper town.

All other police agencies that these criminal acts occurred are investigating at their own departments, please contact them for any information.

State police said Monday that anyone with information about street racing participants can contact them at 860-534-1000. All information will be kept anonymous, state police said.