Paul Bass Photo
The kids pounding a robbery victim called Darryl Snyder “punk-ass security.” The mayor calls him a hero.
Snyder (pictured), for his part, said he acted on instinct when he raced across Union Avenue to rescue a 44-year-old man from four attackers one recent afternoon.
“He needed help. He asked for it. So I wanted to help him,” Snyder said. “It’s a natural instinct. Hopefully if I ever need someone to help me,” someone will help too.
Snyder, who is 49 and lives on New Haven’s East Shore, is the previously unidentified man who stopped a robbery and group beating in progress across from the train station on Friday afternoon Nov. 14, an account detailed, from the victim’s and police’s perspective, in this article. In an interview outside the train station Monday afternoon, Snyder agreed to tell his story and be publicly identified.
Snyder was outside Union Station at his post as a security guard — the same post he was manning at 3:50 p.m. on Nov. 14 when 44-year-old Bret Bird decided to cross Union Street to the Best Mini Mart convenience store at the Church Street South housing complex to pick up a hot drink on his way walking home from buying a train ticket.
Bird didn’t make it to the store. Four teens jumped him. One grabbed for his new iPhone6. Bird refused to relinquish the phone, wrestled with the grabber, then started being pummeled with kicks and punches by the group.
A couple of bystanders were right there practically beside him while the attack unfolded. They didn’t move. Or call 911.
The attack took place in full sight of the crowd of people outside the train station, as well. No one there called 911 either.
Snyder saw it.
“At first I thought it was just the kids fighting,” he said. He knew that lots of crimes occur at Church Street South. But it was still daylight out. In his 13 years in his job, “I’ve never seen anybody get attacked in the open like that.”
Then Bird started screaming “Help! Help! Help!” Like other people lined up outside the station, Snyder could hear the yells clearly.
At that point, Snyder didn’t think twice. He bolted across the street.
“The others guys were pounding on him. He was already hurt; his mouth was bleeding. His glasses were on the ground.”
Snyder stepped in the middle of the pack; the phone-grabber let go of Bird. As Snyder grabbed Bird’s glasses and ushered him to safety, the teens started taunting Snyder. They threatened to attack him. They called him “punk-ass security.”
“I hear it all the time,” Snyder said. “It was no big deal.”
What was a big deal, he said, was how many people were right there watching the attack and not lifting a finger. Not even calling 911.
On Monday, the head of the city’s public-safety 911 answering center, Michael Briscoe, confirmed that no witnesses had called in. In response to a Freedom of Information request from the Independent, he played recordings of all calls that came in during the time of the attack. The first one that referenced the attack, at 4:01, came from the Amtrak police, who reported that an assault victim had been brought to their offices inside the train station. (Click on the video to listen to that call.)
Lt. Holly Wasilewski, the area’s top cop, said police have identified one of the teens allegedly involved in the attack and have prepared a warrant for his arrest. She asked anyone with info on the attack to call the detective bureau at (203) 946‑6304.
Mayor Toni Harp Monday said Snyder did the absolute right thing by running across the street to rescue Bird. “He’s a hero,” she said.
Snyder was once a crime victim himself — 30 years ago, just a few blocks from the train station. An armed robber mugged him. “There was no one around to help me,” Snyder recalled. “The guy had a gun at my head; I let him do what he wanted.” The man made off with a gold chain and some money.
Bret Bird called Snyder “my angel.” Snyder said he doesn’t fear retribution for interceding on Bird’s behalf.
“I can take care of myself,” he said.
