It was past midnight. A felon in the Farnam Courts housing projects had a gun. He wasn’t going to let Officers Martin Feliciano and Lou DeCrescenzo get it, or him, without a fight.
That frightening scenario played out early last week. It was the subject of this “Cop of the Week” article about the two cops.
It played out yet again, with some different twists, before dawn Sunday.
Here’s what happened in the latest incident, according to the officers’ supervisor, Fair Haven District Manager Sgt. Tony Zona:
Feliciano and DeCrescenzo were on patrol around 4:14 a.m. when they saw a driver of a Mazda zoom past on Grand Avenue.
They started to follow him. The driver pulled onto Franklin Street in Farnam Courts.
They followed and stopped their cruiser behind the Mazda, which was in a parking spot.
The officers got out of the cruiser, approached the Mazda. DeCrecenzo took the lead.
The driver tried to pull away. The cruiser blocked his path.
DeCrescenzo reached through the driver’s window. He noticed a gun sticking out of the driver’s pocket. Feliciano walked up to the window, too.
“A struggle ensued,” Zona said. “The guy’s punching them. The guy started to get the upper hand.”
So DeCrescenzo tased the driver. Twice.
“It wasn’t enough,” Zona said. “This guy was pretty big,” and pumped up.
The driver door opened. DeCrescenzo held onto the driver — who pulled DeCrescenzo down. (The officer did grab the gun, which was loaded.)
The fight continued, two cops against the driver. The cops hit his legs with batons. Didn’t stop him.
Finally, they hit him on the head with their batons, according to Zona.
“The guy gets bloody. He’s still fighting.
“These guys were in a battle.”
At that point back-up officers arrived on the scene. The group in blue managed to subdue the man and arrest him.
The suspect went to Yale-New Haven with scrapes from the struggles. He was released, then charged with, among other offenses, illegal possession of a pistol (a Ruger 9 millimeter) and of narcotics (with intent to sell) and assault on police officers. The arrestee, who was born in 1981, has been convicted on firearms and assault charges in the past, according to the state judicial website.
DeCrescenzo and Feliciano went to the Hospital of St. Raphael, where they were treated and released.
“They’re bruised. They’re hurting. They’re banged up,” Zona said.
“You could not ask for two better officers. They really used restraint.They used enough force to protect themselves and effect the arrest.”