WESTFIELD – A North Road man’s efforts to evade the consequences of his actions have landed him in deeper hot water after an apparent attempt to intimidate a witness has left him facing additional charges.
Adam Conrad, 22, of 130 North Road, had been released on his personal recognizance pending a June 18 jury trial for a charge of assault and battery but is now being held without right to bail after he was arraigned Monday on additional charges which include two counts of violation of a protective order, intimidation of a witness and resisting arrest.
Officer Ricky Maciorowski reports that at 3:07 a.m. Saturday he was engaged in traffic enforcement duties on Southampton Road operating northbound when he observed, near Falcon Drive, a gray Toyota Camry traveling southbound at a high rate of speed.
Maciorowski reports he engaged the speeding vehicle with his radar and found it to be traveling at 64 mph in the 40 mph zone on Southampton Road and he gave chase.
Maciorowski reported, from a location near Southampton Road School, that the vehicle was not stopping and other officers moved into position to assist him.
Officer Francis Gaulin reported minutes later that a spike strip device had been deployed on Elm Street in the path of the fleeing vehicle but, although the device punctured all four of the car’s tires, the operator continued to Washington Street where he stopped and entered the police station.
As officers were coping with the suspect, a 19-year-old young woman came to the station and reported that she had jumped from the man’s car in fear for her well being before the man, whom she identified as her former boyfriend Adam Conrad, began his flight from police.
Sgt. Robert Saunders reports that the young woman said that Conrad had contacted her (in violation of the terms of an active protective order) and had persuaded her to meet him in a North Road shopping center parking lot.
She said that he wanted to talk with her in an effort to convince her to alter her testimony at his upcoming trial.
Court records show that Conrad and been arraigned (and released on his personal recognizance) Sept. 10, 2012, after city police officer John R. Parrish reported, in an application for a criminal complaint, that “On 09/09/2012 Adam Conrad did strike (the victim) in the face causing her nose to bleed.”
The woman said that an argument developed while she was sitting in Conrad’s car talking with him and, when she got out of the car, he snatched her keys and cell phone from her lap.
The woman said that Conrad coaxed her back into his car with the promise of returning her property but, when she reentered the vehicle, he drove off.
The woman said that she was immediately in fear for her life because she said that Conrad had previously spoken of resolving their issues by killing them both in a car crash.
She said that her fear prompted her to jump from the moving car.
She was transported Noble Hospital for treatment of abrasions and minor injuries received when she fled the vehicle and was released after her hurts were attended to.
Conrad was arrested for two counts of violation of a protective order as well as intimidating a witness, failure to stop for police, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, resisting arrest, speeding in violation of special regulations, a marked lanes violation, reckless assault and battery and obstruction of justice.
When Conrad appeared before Judge Philip Contant for arraignment on Monday, the Commonwealth did not pursue the obstruction of justice and reckless assault and battery charges but Contant set bail at $500 for the remaining charges, pending an April 11 hearing, and ordered that he comply with all protective orders.
However, Contant noted that the victim in the case before him is the same woman who Conrad had allegedly assaulted in the previous incident and ordered that his previous release be revoked and that Conrad be held without right to bail in that case.
