Essex Man Sped Away From Cops With Child, Faces Gun Charges: State PD

ESSEX, CT — An Essex man sped away from police with a child in his vehicle after he was questioned about guns he had illegally, according to state police.

Troopers were contacted for help with a property retrieval at an Essex hotel Wednesday at 9:40 a.m.

Police found that the man coming to retrieve the property was a convicted felon and was allegedly in possession of guns. The man, Robert Tinley, 35, of Essex, also had a child in his custody.

When he arrived at the hotel, police met him outside his vehicle and asked if he had guns. Tinley said he did, then became "evasive" and refused to comply with officers' commands, according to police.

He got back into his vehicle despite police telling him not to and sped off on Route 153 toward Westbrook. Tinley had a child in his custody at the time. Police later learned he had stopped just prior to the exit 65 ramp to I-95 southbound to let the child out, who he told to walk to a relative's house.

Police later located Tinley's vehicle on a Route 81 where "a high-risk felony traffic stop was conducted," state police said.

Tinley told police that he had two handguns in a safe which he had tossed from the vehicle while he fled on Route 153, according to police. Troopers later found the safe, which had broken on impact, and seized both guns as evidence.

Police later located the child, who was unharmed, and reunited the child with a family member.

Police also later searched an Old Saybrook storage facility and found more of Tinley's guns, including two shotguns, a pellet rifle, and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

Tinley was charged with reckless driving, possession of a controlled substance, two counts of carrying a pistol without a permit, illegal possession of a large capacity magazine, risk of injury to a minor, interfering with an officer/resisting arrest, five counts of criminal possession of a firearm/ammunition/defense weapon, two counts of criminal possession of a pistol/revolver, and second-degree reckless endangerment.

He was held on $60,000 bond and scheduled to appear in Middletown Superior Court on Thursday.