by | Aug 3, 2022 3:00 pm | Comments (6)
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Officer Salvati leads the ICAT training on Wednesday.
Two police officers entered a school where a principal warned them of a distressed teacher wielding a knife.
The first step, per class instructions: Stay calm.
by | Aug 3, 2022 12:00 pm | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen file photo
Cracking concrete outside of the boathouse.
Alders signed off on paying outside attorneys $159,000 in total as legal bills keep mounting for an ongoing court battle centered on cracking concrete outside of the Canal Dock Boathouse.
Continue reading ‘Cracked-Concrete Boathouse Legal Fees Increase’
by | Aug 3, 2022 9:05 am | Comments (14)
Thomas Breen photo
Aizenberg, defense attorney Rosenberg, and prosecutor Coyne in court Tuesday.
One of New Haven’s largest landlords was hit with $2,500 more in court-ordered fines after pleading guilty to another round of city housing code violations.
by | Aug 2, 2022 8:50 am | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison at Monday's meeting.
City of New Haven map
Cannabis zoning map proposal from April; legal sales districts shaded in purple. Thanks to Monday's vote, the port district in the Annex is no longer of that purple, legal cannabis zone, and parts of Long Wharf are.
Cannabis dispensaries can now legally set up up shop in certain business and industrial districts in town — including on Long Wharf — thanks to a new set of zoning regulations approved by the Board of Alders.
by | Aug 1, 2022 2:47 pm | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen file photo
Troche in court with defense attorney Rosemarie Paine.
City police commissioners voted unanimously to fire Christopher Troche, after the 32-year-old now-ex-cop was arrested last year for allegedly pressuring an undocumented Honduran immigrant to send him nude photographs and have sex with him in exchange for money.
by | Jul 29, 2022 5:55 pm | Comments (16)
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New District Manager Jasmine Sanders: "The Hill is like my home."
Hill residents welcomed a new top neighborhood cop — and presented her with a familiar set problems to address.
Continue reading ‘Neighbors, New Top Hill Cop Talk Strategy’
by | Jul 29, 2022 2:44 pm | Comments (1)
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Kiana Brown's aunt, Sharon Brown, and family at Friday's presser.
More than two years after someone shot and killed Kiana Brown while she was sleeping at a home on Valley Street, the star high school basketball player’s family and city cops issued a plea for someone to come forward with information about who pulled the trigger.
The city and the state Friday announced a $25,000 reward for anyone who offers information that leads to that shooter’s arrest and conviction.
Continue reading ‘$25K Reward Posted To Help Find Kiana Brown’s Killer’
by | Jul 28, 2022 3:44 pm | Comments (8)
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Officer Curry (right) at Thursday's presser.
Officer Curry body cam. De-escalation starts at 15:00.
“Can I make you kill me?” the man, holding a knife to his own body, asked Officer Chad Curry.
“I don’t want to kill you,” Curry responded. “I don’t want to kill anybody.”
Continue reading ‘At Crisis Call, Officer Curry De-Escalates’
by | Jul 28, 2022 3:27 pm | Comments (7)
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Assistant Chief Ettienne (right) with Chief Jacobson and Mayor Elicker at Thursday presser.
A 20-year-old Fair Haven Heights resident allegedly drove to Beaver Hills to shoot at the car of a paternity rival.
While fleeing the scene, his associate “Nugget” then allegedly turned his gun on a car that was following them.
Unknown to them, that unmarked vehicle was occupied by two city police officers — who were investigating the initial shooting, and who suddenly found bullets flying their way.
by | Jul 28, 2022 12:53 pm | Comments (0)
Did you happen to see a crash on the northbound left-center lane of I‑95, just before Exit 50, Thursday around 2 a.m.?
by | Jul 25, 2022 2:16 pm | Comments (24)
Thomas Breen photos
Defense attorney Silverstein with client Rahgue Tennant after the verdict.
Jurors Marcia Dixon and Kim Amatruda: "Not enough" evidence to convict on all counts.
A jury acquitted ex-New Haven Police Lt. Rahgue Tennant of two felony charges — and convicted him of one misdemeanor — after finding that his week-long domestic violence trial hinged too much on “he said, she said” testimony.
Continue reading ‘Jury Acquits Ex-Top Cop Of Felony Charges’
by | Jul 25, 2022 12:16 pm | Comments (7)
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State Sen. Gary Winfield at Newhallville stop-violence fair.
Paul Bass Photo
John Carlson, fellow GOP candidate Eric Mastroianni at WNHH FM.
To Gary Winfield, the job of state legislator is akin to a long-distance runner. He sees the finish line in the distance: Better public education. Humane prisons. Fairer policing. The legislator gets closer every year, step by step, methodically making gains along the way, keeping the ultimate goal in mind.
That record of veteran service is a reason the Newhallville Democrat gave for why he’s running this year for a sixth term as a state senator representing New Haven and West Haven.
That’s a reason John Carlson, a Hill Republican, gave for why he’s challenging Winfield this year for the 10th State Senate District seat: New Haven Democrats have been in power too long, without producing the right results, he argued.
Continue reading ‘Experience Helps? Or Hurts? Candidates Differ’
by | Jul 22, 2022 5:34 pm | Comments (1)
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Lt. Rahgue Tennant (center) with defense attorney Jamie Alosi on Friday.
A judge sent the jury home Friday afternoon after it apparently came close to rendering a verdict in the domestic-violence criminal case of ex-Lt. Rahgue Tennant.
Continue reading ‘Ex-Top Cop Trial, Day 5: Jury Nears A Verdict’
by | Jul 22, 2022 4:58 pm | Comments (2)
Laura Glesby Photo
Salters, newly freed, with his three novels.
In his new office, Gaylord Salters has arranged the stacks of court papers to echo the way they sat a month ago — in his eight-by-twelve prison cell.
He likes them that way. The files remind him of a decades-long fight that isn’t yet over, even though Salters is free: a fight to clear his record of a 1996 shooting he maintains he never committed.
by | Jul 22, 2022 11:07 am | Comments (12)
Yash Roy Photos
Elicker speaking to recent Cross graduate Cynthia Marroquin about working for the NHPD.
Cynthia Marroquin, who just graduated from Wilbur Cross High School, found the mayor on her doorstep bearing career advice: become a New Haven cop.
Continue reading ‘NHPD Brass, Mayor Recruit Future Cops In Fair Haven’
by | Jul 22, 2022 8:58 am | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen photo
Ex-Lt. Rahgue Tennant testifies Thursday at his criminal trial.
“Catch,” then-Lt. Rahgue Tennant claimed he told his “hysterical” wife as he “lobbed” a “very empty” Lysol can that she had just thrown at him back in her general direction.
By “accident,” that can hit her in the head — causing a cut and bruising that over time turned into a black eye, and that ultimately led to his arrest for assault.
by | Jul 21, 2022 9:23 am | Comments (1)
Yash Roy photos
Officers at Wednesday's promotion ceremony at YAG.
Promoted cops with colleagues after the ceremony.
Two newly promoted sergeants, a lieutenant, a captain, and two assistant chiefs took their formal oaths of office, along with a collective informal oath — to rebuild trust in communities across New Haven.
The swearing-in of the newly promoted cops took place late Wednesday afternoon at the Yale Art Gallery at Chapel and York streets.
Continue reading ‘New Top Cops Sworn In, With Legitimacy Mission’
by | Jul 21, 2022 9:03 am | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen file photo
Attorney Silverstein in court this week defending an ex-New Haven police lieutenant facing felony domestic-abuse charges.
“If, if! If my aunt had testicles, she’d be my uncle.”
With those words, criminal defense attorney Rick Silverstein once again had the courtroom’s attention — and lobbed another unconventional verbal missile — as he tried to convince a state judge on Wednesday to shut down a prosecutor’s leading questions of an expert witness.
It was the latest example of how a colorful, veteran local lawyer is waging another long-shot courtroom battle on behalf of a person charged with heinous acts choosing to plow past the odds to vindication with a push-the-envelope advocate cast from HBO.
Continue reading ‘Trial Day 3: Rick Silverstein Goes For Broke’
by | Jul 20, 2022 6:28 pm | Comments (11)
Christopher Peak file photo
Rabbi Greer.
Incarcerated sex offender Rabbi Daniel Greer left his prison cell Wednesday to come to a New Haven courtroom — where one of his alleged victims testified that Greer had indeed had sex with a former student … but waited until the boy was over the age of 16 years.
Greer was the one who arranged to have the witness come say that, in the hopes of obtaining a new trial.
by | Jul 20, 2022 8:57 am | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
Sgt. Joshua Kyle on witness stand Tuesday, holding up Tennant's AR15 rifle for jury at request of prosecutors. Asked by defense attorney Rick Silverstein if he owns an assault rifle, the sergeant replied: "I wish I did."
A domestic violence prevention worker knew that the woman at the other end of the phone line was at “high risk” for suffering further harm.
She knew that this woman needed a safe place for herself and her kids to escape to far from home.
And she knew that this all-too-common situation was rendered more dangerous and complicated — because the alleged abuser was a cop.
Continue reading ‘Ex-Top Cop Trial, Day 2: Police-Domestic Violence Risks Take Center Stage’
by | Jul 19, 2022 5:26 pm | Comments (3)
Officer Teague completes the assignment.
Uh oh. A cop was at the door. And he was looking for Majesty Whitaker.
by | Jul 19, 2022 8:42 am | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen photos
Arrested former Lt. Rahgue Tennant on trial Monday.
Two of Tennant's long guns: an AR15 and a pump-action shotgun. His ex-wife alleged that Tennant had the AR15 on their bed as he filled a magazine with bullets. Later, he allegedly told her that anyone who came into their house would get "lit the fuck up."
First, he allegedly choked his then-wife.
Two months later, he allegedly punched her multiple times in the head while their 1‑year-old son looked on.
Two months after that, he allegedly hit her so hard that she fell back against their shower’s sliding door, knocking it off its track.
Finally, a few weeks after that, he allegedly threw a Lysol can at her face, threatened to shoot up his East Shore home — and was ultimately arrested by fellow city police officers.
Continue reading ‘Ex-Top Cop Trial, Day 1: Alleged Domestic Abuse History Revealed’
by | Jul 15, 2022 3:53 pm | Comments (6)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Mayor Lauren Garrett, Natalie McLaughlin, Oscar Soler, Joseph Seagren, Acting Chief Tim Wydra, Luisangel Valdovinos, Juan Bayas, and Taquan Mitchell at Friday's swearing-in.
Six officers were sworn into the Hamden Police Department Friday morning, filling long-open vacancies and diversifying the force — while simultaneously prompting questions about the town’s hiring procedures.
Continue reading ‘6 Hamden Cops Sworn In; Hiring Process Critiqued’
by | Jul 15, 2022 2:47 pm | Comments (22)
Advocate Flaherty: "We have to figure out how to get along."
A state judge has sided with Hamden’s public housing authority in its bid to evict a tenant for allegedly dangerous and lewd behavior — shining a light on the challenges of providing stable housing for people with apparent mental and behavioral health issues, while also making sure that those people do not threaten the safety of their neighbors.
Continue reading ‘Court Case Q: Which "Nuisances" Merit Eviction?’
by | Jul 15, 2022 2:28 pm | Comments (14)
Thomas Breen photos
Chief Jacobson: Police need community's consent.
At Thursday's top cop-community meetup.
Make sure city police officers are well trained in how to provide basic medical care to detainees in distress — as well as compassion to everyone they interact with on their beat.
Police Chief Karl Jacobson heard those recommendations, and many more, during one of his first community meetings since becoming the city’s top cop.
Continue reading ‘Chief-Community Confab Calls For Compassion’