Meriden Man Faces Gun Charges Following Pursuit, Crash

MERIDEN, CT — A Meriden man was arrested on gun charges early Wednesday morning, according to police. Police said an officer observed an erratic driver around 2:30 a.m.

The driver sped up to avoid the officer, who lost sight of the erratic driver on Old Colony Road. However, the officer then spotted the car on Hall Avenue, where it had crashed into a guardrail.

Tow men were standing outside the car. When the officer approached, the two men fled.

One of the men fled and was taken into custody. Police were not able to locate the second man.

Other police units responded and searched the crashed car, where they found a 9mm handgun, a 30-round high-capacity magazine, and 29 rounds of 9 mm ammunition.

Police also said they found 3.2 grams of crack cocaine, a small amount of marijuana, and a hammer wrapped in a cloth.

"This raised officer’s suspicions since we have had two recent commercial burglaries in which windows to the establishments were smashed with what was believed to be a hammer," police said in a statement. "Although we cannot confirm that this was the hammer used in either burglary, we will be investigating further to try and determine if this is the case."

Julian Dudley, 27, of 36 Webster St., 3rd Floor, in Meriden, was charged with criminal possession of a firearm, weapons in a motor vehicle, no pistol permit, possession of a high capacity magazine, possession of narcotics, and possession of marijuana less than half an ounce.

He was held on $150,000 bond and will appear in court Feb. 17.