Manchester Man Faces Drug Charges After Fleeing Police

Two men were arrested and charged with drug offenses by Hartford police after the pair fled an arrest attempt in Manchester.

According to a press release from the East Central Narcotics Task Force, officers attempted to serve three arrest warrants on Emanuel Sampel in the parking lot of the Auto Shine Car Wash on Hartford Road in Manchester Friday. Task force members set up surveillance, but Sampel took off in a white Honda Accord when the officers tried to pull him over.

A little while later, Sampel, of Manchester, and a passenger, Peter Finnagan of East Hartford, were pulled over and taken into custody without incident by Hartford Police on Windsor Avenue in Hartford.

Sampel, 26, of 53 Summit St. in Manchester, was charged with criminal attempt to sell heroin, conspiracy to sell heroin and second-degree reckless endangerment. The three warrants police were serving were each for sale and possession of heroin. He is being held on $100,000 surety bonds for each count.

Finnagan, 49, of 25 Adams St. in East Hartford, faces charges of criminal liability in the sale of heroin and conspiracy to sell heroin, and is being held on a $20,000 surety bond.

The arrest warrants stem from an investigation into Sampel’s alleged heroin dealing in Manchester, according to the release. Task force members seized $2,823 in cash and the Honda Accord after Sampel and Finnagan were arrested.

Both Sampel and Finnagan, police said, have long criminal histories in the state.

The East Central Narcotics Task Force, in cooperation with other municipal, and federal law enforcement agencies, is interested in stopping illegal narcotics sales and use in the Manchester, South Windsor, Vernon, and Glastonbury communities.  Anyone with information pertaining to any illicit drug activity is asked to contact the East Central Narcotics Task Force at (860) 645-5548.  All calls will remain confidential.