East Hartford Man Went 130 MPH In Berlin: State Police

BERLIN/EAST HARTFORD, CT — An East Hartford man has been accused by state police of fleeing a traffic stop and traveling 130 miles per hour on Route 9 in Berlin last March.

Connecticut State Police said Friday afternoon that Kelvin Cao, 20, of East Hartford, was charged with failure to display a license plate, reckless driving, engaging police in pursuit, improper passing/unsafe distance/cutting in, failure to display lights, and first-degree reckless endangerment.

Cao, who was charged on Thursday, May 8, was later released on a $10,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in New Britain Superior Court on June 2.

According to police, on Thursday, May 8, at approximately 2:30 p.m., troopers assigned to Troop H- Hartford responded to a residence in East Hartford to locate Cao.

Police said Troop H held an active arrest warrant for Cao, which stemmed from an incident in March 2025.

At that time, a state trooper attempted to stop a vehicle traveling on Route 9 in Berlin, clocked at 130 mph, and the operator of the vehicle failed to stop when signaled to do so, police said.

The operator subsequently made several unsafe passing maneuvers around other traffic and shut their lights off in the dark to elude capture, according to police.

"Due to the inherent risks the operator was creating, the trooper disengaged from the pursuit," wrote state police in a report Friday.

Cao was identified as the operator of the vehicle at the time of the incident.

The investigation also determined the vehicle had a "vanish plate" device, which concealed the rear license plate from plain view.

This device was seized as evidence in this investigation, police said.

While troopers were attempting to contact Cao at the East Hartford residence, Cao's vehicle was seen leaving and was stopped by troopers on the scene.

The operator was positively identified as Cao, who was subsequently taken into custody.

Cao was transported to Troop H, where he was processed, police said.

For more information on the case, click on this link.