Home security footage led police to arrest three Hartford men in connection with a hit-and-run that left a Naugatuck man severely injured, according to an arrest warrant. 

NAUGATUCK — When a dark-colored sedan ran over a Naugatuck man interrupting a car burglary one summer morning, law enforcement scoured the neighborhood for video surveillance footage, according to an arrest warrant. 

The man suffered severe injuries, lying unresponsive in a puddle of his own blood. Multiple neighbors helped police and provided footage from their home security systems, leading investigators to discover the sedan was a Mercedes stolen out of Massachusetts. The vehicle was found abandoned in Hartford the next day and, through security footage again, discovered an accomplice vehicle. 

But it wasn’t until one man connected to the incident came clean that officers were able to identify the suspects.

On Thursday, the Naugatuck Police Department announced it charged three Hartford men with the incident: the alleged driver, 24-year-old Dallas Diamond Rodriguez, and two passengers, 23-year-old John Carlos Santos and 22-year-old TaJay Javon Hunter.

Officers were called to Alma Street at around 4:40 a.m. on July 12 for the hit-and-run. There, they found the victim, a 42-year-old Naugatuck man, lying unresponsive in the middle of the road with a large pool of blood forming around his upper body, according to Santos' arrest warrant. 

The man was "exhibiting agonal breathing," or gasping for air, and officers could see his face and head were injured. The officers started to render aid, rolling the man onto his side and using a trauma dressing to try and slow the bleeding from the man's head, the warrant said. 

Once the ambulance arrived, the man was taken to the Waterbury Hospital emergency room for further treatment. The hospital later told police that the man had suffered a severe brain injury and serious injuries to his lungs. Due to his critical condition and the severity of his injuries, the hospital did not expect the man to survive, according to the warrant. 

As of Friday, the victim is being treated at a long-term rehabilitation facility, police said.  

The man's girlfriend told police she woke up when the man got out of bed and ran to his white pickup truck. When she looked out the window, she saw a black sedan speed down the street and strike the man, causing him to go up onto the hood and fall off onto the road, according to the warrant. 

Police obtained surveillance footage from multiple Alma Street residents, which showed a dark-colored sedan, later identified as a 2012 Mercedes CLS, drive east down the road at 4:35 a.m. At 4:36 a.m., video footage shows a passenger get out of the vehicle and approach a Nissan Sentra. Police later noticed this car had a smashed window like the truck's damage, the warrant said. 

A neighbor's surveillance camera captured the Mercedes parked in front of their house at 4:37 a.m. The driver could be seen getting out of the car, walking up to the driveway of a nearby home, checking the door handles of a couple of cars and returning to the sedan to continue west, according to the warrant. 

At 4:39 a.m., the suspects were looking into the windows of the victim’s truck. The victim ran outside to confront the men and, as he approached the sedan, it accelerated and hit him, according to the warrant.

Additional video showed the man land in the road while the sedan fled west down Alma Street and made a left turn onto John Street at 4:40 a.m., the warrant said.

At the scene, police noticed two of the truck's windows smashed in with what seemed to be a tool. The man typically did not keep anything valuable inside his truck except for power tools, his girlfriend told police. Police are unsure of whether anything was taken from the vehicle, according to the warrant.

Police received multiple reports later that same morning about cars being broken into overnight on the west side of the city. The windows had been broken with a small prying tool and the items inside the vehicles "appeared to have been rummaged through" or missing, the warrant said.

Detectives obtained video footage from the area which "showed the same black Mercedes trolling the neighborhoods" at around 3 a.m. Through this video footage, police determined the vehicle was a 2010s era Mercedes CLS. After alerting other agencies, the Hartford Police Department found the 2012 Mercedes sedan unoccupied on Windham Street. The vehicle had been reported stolen out of Springfield, Mass. earlier that month, the warrant said.

The Mercedes was towed and, when police went to look at the car, they saw it had a cracked windshield, damage to its front bumper and fenders and scratches or scuff marks across the hood. Police said these damages are "consistent with a vehicle striking a pedestrian,” according to the warrant.

Police determined, through photos and video clips from the Hartford Police Department’s Intelligence Division, that the Mercedes had been damaged after July 10. Officers also seized physical evidence from the car, including its electronic control module that could have stored historical vehicle data, according to the warrant.

Detectives later returned to Windham Street to canvass the area. Video footage captured nearby showed that the Mercedes had parked on the street at around 5:15 a.m. and the driver, who appeared to be the same driver in the Alma Street clips, got into a waiting silver Subaru SUV, the warrant said.

On Aug. 23, a Southington police officer assigned to the Greater Hartford Regional Auto Task Force went to Manchester to interview Hunter, who was a suspect in multiple vehicle burglaries and catalytic converter thefts in Southington and across the state. Members of the task force had been surveilling Hunter for several months and noted he operated multiple vehicles, including a silver 2010 Subaru Outback, according to the warrant.

In an interview, police asked Hunter about the black Mercedes used in the hit and run. At first, he was unfamiliar with the car, but officers showed him a surveillance photo of the Subaru picking up the suspects on Windham Street and Hunter admitted he had picked up Rodriguez and Santos from the Mercedes, the warrant said.

Hunter also told police he was in the stolen car when it hit the victim, according to the warrant.

That night, Rodriguez drove Santos and Hunter to Waterbury, and later to Naugatuck, to break into cars. He estimated the group broke into upwards of 20 cars in Naugatuck that night and stole between $300 and $500 from the cars, according to the warrant.

Hunter said another man he called as "Jose" was in the back seat with him that night. However, police have not identified the man, the warrant said.

Hunter, allegedly asleep in the back seat, woke up when Rodriguez pointed out the white pickup truck on Alma Street, the warrant said.

Rodriguez got out of the Mercedes and asked for a screwdriver. Hunter, serving briefly as lookout, noticed a television inside and told Rodriguez to leave the truck alone. Once Rodriguez smashed the window, Hunter returned to the back seat of the Mercedes, according to the warrant.

The victim then came out of his house, prompting Rodriguez and Santos to run back to the car. The man allegedly jumped on top of the Mercedes’ hood and accused them of stealing from his truck. He punched the windshield and Rodriguez “floored the Mercedes,” causing the man to fly over the hood and land on the pavement, Hunter recalled, according to the warrant.

When they drove off, Hunter looked out and told Rodriguez and Santos the man was not moving. He then looked away and asked them to drop him back off at his house, the warrant said.

Rodriguez and Santos returned to Hunter’s house in the Mercedes and told him to pick them up after they dropped off the vehicle on Windham Street.  Hunter told officers he saw on Facebook that the man had been severely injured. When asked if he wanted to provide a written statement because Rodriguez had crossed the line, Hunter agreed, according to the warrant.

“I felt bad for the guy,” Hunter said in his sworn statement.  Hunter told police that the incident “still bothers him and the reason he was coming clean was for his kids,” the warrant said.

Rodriguez, Santos and Hunter were charged with first-degree robbery, second-degree larceny and seven counts each of conspiracy to commit third-degree burglary and conspiracy to commit third-degree criminal mischief. Rodriguez was additionally charged with first-degree assault, reckless driving, evading responsibility and driving without a license, Naugatuck police said.

Rodriguez was arrested on Wednesday and was held on $350,000 bond. Santos was arrested last week and held on $250,000 bond. Court records show the two remain in custody. Naugatuck police said Hunter was already in custody on unrelated charges. 

Liz Hardaway is a breaking news reporter for Hearst Connecticut Media through the Hearst Fellowship Program.

She previously worked at the San Antonio Express-News to help cover city hall and local issues. She also worked at the Sun Newspapers in Southwest Florida as a general assignment reporter covering politics, business, and health. 

Liz graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2018 with a B.A. in journalism. She enjoys cooking, reading and playing with her dachshund, Finn.