by Timothy Page

On Friday, June 28, at 12:24 PM, Burlington Police Dispatch received a report of a beige Ford F-250 driving erratically on Riverside Avenue. The vehicle, reportedly weaving and nearly hitting other cars, was heading towards Winooski. The Winooski Police Department was alerted as the truck approached the roundabout.

By 12:33 PM, another 911 call reported the same Ford F-250 had struck a parked car and fled towards North Winooski Avenue. The registration matched the earlier report. Officers were dispatched, learning en route that the truck was stolen from Essex.

Further 911 calls indicated the Ford F-250 was driving erratically on Pearl Street, hitting a curb and mounting the sidewalk near the Downtown Transit Center on Cherry Street. The Burlington Fire Department (BFD), nearby, saw the vehicle heading east on Pearl Street and then west on Grant Street before losing sight of it on North Street.

The situation escalated when the truck crashed into a house on Manhattan Drive and hit another parked vehicle while fleeing. Multiple 911 calls then reported the truck at Salmon Hole off Riverside Avenue, heading west. Officers located the truck but it refused to stop, swerving around a police cruiser and crashing into a vehicle stopped at a traffic light. The truck reversed, rammed the vehicle multiple times, and broke free despite officers’ commands.

The Ford F-250 sped down North Winooski Avenue, entered St. Joseph’s Cemetery, and crashed into a gravestone. Officers ordered the driver out, but he reversed, hit a police cruiser, and struck another gravestone before fleeing on foot. Officers set up a perimeter and captured the suspect, Thomas Halloran, 48, at the bottom of a hill. While in custody, Halloran bit an officer’s leg, causing injury.

Halloran was lodged at Northwest Correctional Facility on $10,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court on July 1, 2024, at 10:30 AM. He faces multiple charges, including Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Multiple Leaving Scene of Accidents, Simple Assault on a Police Officer, Aggravated Negligent Operation of a Motor Vehicle, Aggravated Assault on a Police Officer, Unlawful Mischief, Eluding a Police Officer, Resisting Arrest, and Grossly Negligent Operation of a Motor Vehicle.