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Sudora was hit, not once, but twice by the same driver early Saturday morning.
Both officer and driver ended up in St. Vincent's hospital, but Scott Sudora walked out on his own, a bit worse for the wear, while Robert Allan Metz, 55, of Benson, North Carolina, who left with a police escort, a dozen charges against him, and, unable to post bond of $150,000, went directly to jail.
At a little after 1 a.m. on Saturday morning, Officer Scott Sudora pulled up to the Fairfield Motor Inn. The manager was tapping on the front window of a car parked in the middle of the Inn's lawn. Inside, Metz seemed to be asleep.
Sudora also went over to knock on the front window and Metz woke up, startled, and drove off between the two buildings of the inn, only to make a U-turn and return. Sudora, at first, got into his car to follow him, then got out when he saw Metz was returning. However, instead of stopping for the officer, Metz drove right at him and hit him.
Sudora bounced off the hood of the car and, athlete that he is - he used to play football for Uconn - he literally landed on his feet, but not before Metz allegedly yelled at him to get off the hood of his car.
Undeterred, Sudora jumped in his cruiser and followed Metz to McDonald's, where both stopped. The officer got out of his car, and told Metz to shut off his engine.
When Metz didn't, Sudora reached into Metz's car to do so. However, the ignition was not where he expected it to be and Metz took off, allegedly running over Sudora's feet as he did so. He headed toward Bridgeport, operating "at dangerous speeds," on both local roads and highway, according to police reports.
Police lost track of Metz's car in the heavy rain, but Bridgeport police found it abandoned at Main Street and University Drive. A canine member of the Bridgeport squad found Metz soon after.
Metz was charged with assault in the second degree, reckless endangerment, possession of narcotics, (he was found to possess cocaine), interfering with an officer, assault on a police officer, evading responsibility, engaging police in pursuit, speeding, reckless driving, operating an unregistered motor vehicle, not having a driver's license, and driving under the influence.
Sudora suffered injuries to his right shoulder, right elbow and his neck.
Fairfield Police spokesperson Sgt. James Perez said police are extremely grateful to Bridgeport police for their help in ensuring that no one else was injured.
Perez also noted that while Fairfield police initially set bond of $110,000 for Metz, bail commissioners, who can raise or lower bail, raised it to $150,000. Metz was arraigned on Monday morning.
