(Updated) Hours after taking a suspect in Sunday’s downtown shootout into custody, police turned their focus to checking on liquor licenses — and examining a college night foam pit — as part of a crackdown on Crown Street clubs.
Club Static was the first to host law enforcement on Thursday evening. A stream of cops and liquor control agents filed into the Static nightclub to check liquor licenses and to see if the club’s college-night foam-pit was sanitary. Police said that’s where a fight started that led to a shootout early Sunday morning that left at least two people injured. Michael Andrews, owner of Static, denied the claim.
(Click the play arrow above to see cops enter the club.)
The visit came after a 9:30 p.m. street corner announcement by Chief Frank Limon that a suspect in Sunday’s shooting on Crown and College Street had been detained.
Police say the 26-year-old suspect fired a gun at police during a shootout early Sunday morning. Dozens of shots appear to have been fired during the incident, some by police. Two people were injured in the gunfire, though not by officers’ bullets, police have said.
The shootout has prompted public outcry about safety in New Haven’s Crown Street club district. In a press conference Tuesday, the mayor and chief of police promised a crackdown on nightclubs, including a stepped-up police presence and enforcement of noise and sanitary conditions. Those measures became visible Thursday night. Police were out in force on Crown Street, watching the street, checking IDs and pulling liquor licenses. Police also set up mobile command posts at Temple and Crown and College and George, where cops were monitoring live video feeds of Crown Street.
On Friday afternoon, police released stats on Thursday night’s enforcement. Two underage drinking violations were found. One robbery arrest, one interfering with an officer arrest were made. Police made 23 motor vehicle stops, including one drunk driver, and made two motor vehicle arrests. Police investigated five suspicious persons, one loud party complaint, and two trespassing incidents.
Cops also enforced a whopping 76 parking violations. Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts said in August that bar district enforcement could be funded in part by increased ticketing.
Chief Frank Limon (pictured) made his arrest announcement at the corner of Crown and Temple Streets, flanked by New Haven and Yale police, state liquor control agents, and police commissioner Richard Epstein.
“We had three officers with less than two years on the job,” he began, referring to the three cops involved in Sunday’s shootout. “They took an oath of office to serve and protect. Sunday morning they did that. They stood up to the plate and put their life at risk to save people’s lives. They were shot at.”
The shooters were people who had been in Static, Limon said. A fight started there, then moved to the street and escalated to a gun battle, he said.
A 27-year-old has been arrested for his part in the shootout, Limon said. He has a criminal record and is a recently released convicted felon, he said.
The man is being charged with assault on a police officer, conspiracy and intent to commit assault, criminal possession of a pistol by a felon, unlawful discharge, carrying a pistol without a permit.
Chief Limon declined to provide details on how police found the man. He said only that police found an eyewitness who identified the suspect. The Register’s Bill Kaempffer reported Thursday that the man was under guard at a local hospital, where he arrived with a gunshot wound.
Police said more arrests are expected soon.
“We want to emphasize that this fight started in the Static nightclub,” Limon said. He said police plan to continue Operation Nightlife, the ongoing police enforcement of the club district, including ID checks and liquor permit enforcement.
“We’re asking the club owners, all the liquor establishments, to step up to the plate, to be responsible for their patrons inside their clubs and not only stop there but also be responsible when they leave the clubs,” Limon said. He said he hopes to sit down with club owners to come up with a plan to “sustain a safe neighborhood downtown in the district.”
In August, Mayor John DeStefano met with club owners to try to get them to voluntarily pay for extra cops in the bar district. Bar owners resisted that plan and the meeting dissolved in disagreement.
Chief Limon declined to comment on that plan. “I’m just going to tell you what we’re going to do. What we asked them to do before, it’s off the table. We’re going to take over and we’re going to provide safety in the district now.”
Moments later, the Chief led police and reporters on an inspection of the club district, starting with Static. Downtown top cop Lt. Rebecca Sweeney and liquor control agents found an empty club. Club manager Andrew Behm produced his ID and the bar’s liquor license for inspection.
Thomas MacMillan Photo
In the rear of the club, workers were setting up a giant inflatable enclosure. “It’s a foam party,” a staffer said. The blue pit would be filled with soapy foam for people to play in, he explained.
Police called a health department inspector to check on the foam pit. The results of that inspection were not available by press time.
Stan Burk, an agent with state liquor control, said Static did not have adequate barriers between the underage and over-21 sections of the bar. He said he had not determined if it amounted to a full violation.
Andrews (pictured), the owner of Static, said the plexiglass barrier had been knocked over by the inflation of the foam pit and said it would be in place before clubgoers arrived.
Andrews vehemently denied Chief Limon’s statement that Sunday’s gun battle started as a fight in Static.
“There was no fight here,” he said. “It’s completely absurd and bullshit.”
Andrews said he has security tapes from Saturday night that show there were no fights in the club. He said security pats down and uses a metal detecting wand on all clubgoers at the door.
“The problem didn’t come from here,” he said.
Around the corner, near the site of Sunday’s shooting, a large police bus at the corner of George and College Streets was humming and filled with a pink glow. Inside, Lt. Robert Muller was monitoring several live video feeds from cameras on Crown Street. It was a consolidation of footage from about 12 Yale security cameras and Board of Education cameras, Muller said.
The cameras could be monitored from anywhere, Muller said. Parking the van near the site of the shooting provides “high visibility” for police, Muller said. The bus will be parked there through the weekend, he said.
Police presence and enforcement on Crown Street continued through the evening. The sidewalks were filled with young women wearing tiny dresses and teetering on high heels, young men in graphic tees and distressed jeans, and beefy bouncers presiding over lines into the bars.
Chief Limon walked from club to club. He said he was saying hello to owners.
At around 11 p.m., police had two cars pulled over at the corner of Crown and Temple. A man was being held in the back of a cruiser nearby. A bystander said the man had been caught urinating in the parking garage.
“What are you doing here?” shouted one college student. She objected to the presence of so many cops and reporters on Crown Street. “You’re ruining our night!”
