Delaware State Police have updated a story that only First State Update told you about over the weekend.
Officials said that they arrested 36-year-old Larry Kelley of Newport, Delaware, for felony assault and additional offenses stemming from a stolen vehicle hit-and-run crash investigation that occurred Saturday morning at Christiana Hospital in Newark.
On June 8, 2024, at approximately 8:12 a.m., troopers responded to Christiana Hospital located at 4755 Ogletown Stanton Road in Newark, for a report of a male patient that fled from the hospital in a stolen vehicle following a hit-and-run crash according to police.
Upon arriving, troopers learned the suspect, identified as Larry Kelley, was a patient in the Christiana Hospital Emergency Department, when he became increasingly aggressive and ran out of the hospital. After running out of the hospital, Kelley evaded being taken into custody by multiple ChristianaCare Constables as he entered an unoccupied and unsecured SUV idling in front of the Emergency Department’s entrance. Kelley then struck a constable with the stolen SUV and drove over him as he fled out of the parking lot towards Churchmans Road police said Tuesday. The constable was treated at the hospital for serious injuries.
A short time later, troopers found the stolen SUV abandoned in the area of East Newport Pike and Forest Drive, (near Banning Park) and learned Kelley had fled on foot from the SUV. Troopers, with the assistance of officers from the Newport Police Department, searched the area and found Kelley attempting to enter a house on Maple Hill Road. He was subsequently taken into custody without incident.
After Kelley was medically cleared from the hospital, following a computer inquiry that revealed he did not possess a valid driver’s license, he was transported to Troop 2. There, he faced charges including Assault 2nd Degree, Theft of a Motor Vehicle, Theft Under $1,500, Resisting Arrest, Criminal Trespass, and Driving Without a Valid License. Subsequently, Kelley was arraigned by Justice of the Peace Court 11 and remanded to Howard R. Young Correctional Institution on an $11,500 cash bond, along with additional traffic violations.