Meriden Man Attacked Officers, Facing $230,000 in Bonds in Drug Investigation

A 21-year-old city resident is being held in lieu of $230,000 in bonds after an incident last week in which he backed his car into a police cruiser before then attacking officers and attempting to injure them when he was taken into custody on drug charges.

Police said Tyler J. Steward, of 25 Twiss St. in Meriden, was the target of an investigation by members of the Meriden Police Department’s narcotics enforcement unit, but became combative when detectives attempted to approach him.

According to police reports, detectives were following up on reports from a confidential informant that Steward was selling marijuana and cocaine in the community when they pulled behind Steward’s car at a home on Gracey Avenue.

Officers exited the vehicle, according to the report, and approached Steward but the 21-year-old put his car in reverse and rammed into the police vehicle instead. The impact forced one of the doors to swing and hit one of the officers in the head, police said.

Police were then forced to fight with Steward as he attempted to keep them locked from the car, but a female passenger was able to unlock the doors, allowing detectives to get ahold of Steward. The 21-year-old responded by attacking the officers, going after one of the detectives’ knees in an effort to injure them. He was then taken into custody following the struggle without further incident.

Steward, who was uncooperative during discussions with police, was in possession of over $1,600 as well as a small amount of marijuana and 4.5 grams of cocaine, according to the police report.

Officers suffered only minor injuries in the incident and were not expected to miss any time, police said Monday.

Court records show that Steward was also wanted in connection with several active warrants at the time of his arrest.

He is currently facing a slew of charges including possession of narcotics, possession with the intent to sell, interfering with an officer, assault on a public safety officer, first-degree reckless endangerment, conspiracy to commit first-degree assault, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, violation of probation, failure to respond to an infraction, first-degree failure to appear, second-degree breach of peace and second-degree reckless endangerment.

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