A group of young men, one of them carrying a gun, caused havoc at Occupy New Haven overnight before fleeing in a police chase.
Here’s what happened, according to police spokesman Officer David Hartman:
The incident began at the Occupy New Haven encampment on the upper Green around 1 a.m. They said a group of men were kicking their tents and walking through the area. “Wake up!” they yelled. One occupier, Justin Sabatino, confronted them — and had a gun pointed at him in response. Occupier Henry Rodriguez told Officer Gene Trotman what happened; the group of invaders then ran on Elm Street toward York.
Officer Michael Pepe was there. He tried to stop them. One of the men fleeing, a 22-year-old New Havener, headed toward Park Street, climbed a fence, dropped a gun, retrieved it, then hid.
New Haven Yale cops cordoned the area off. Officer Pepe saw the man head toward Broadway; the chase was on again. “Observant” Yale cops caught him at 51 Broadway. The Man “struggled as he was taken into custody” and “kept reaching for his waistband. When [he] was caught, he had, in his waist-band, a loaded .380 Cobra, CA-380, semi-automatic hand gun, black baseball gloves & a knit ski mask. The serial number on the gun had been altered.” He was charged with, among other offenses, three weapons violations.
Witnesses have a description for cops of two alleged muggers, one of them armed, who robbed a man on Grand Avenue around 11;40 a.m. Thursday. Officer Edward Dunford, patrolling Grand Avenue, encountered the victim almost immediately after the mugging. The victim pointed out the men in the distance. “Dunford gave chase, but the robbers’ lead was too great to make up the distance,” according to Hartman’s written summary of the incident. “Dunford was, however able to return the victim’s sneakers, sweatshirt & scarf. Those, along with cash and a cell phone, had been taken by the perpetrators during the robbery. The two robbers are said to be local guys.”
“Were You Smoking Weed?”
Here’s Hartman’s depiction of a Tuesday evening episode that began around 8:45:
“Officers Martin Feliciano, Ryan McFarland & Pedro Colon, each one of whom is assigned to the NHPD’s Street Interdiction Unit (SIU), pulled over a car for a moving violation in the area of Forbes Avenue & Long Wharf Drive. Once car side, officers smelled the sharp odor of burnt marijuana.
“‘Were you smoking weed?’” Officer McFarland asked the driver.
“‘Yes… about an hour ago,’” replied a seemingly nervous … 20 year old Fountain Street resident.
“McFarland asked [him] if there was more in the car. ‘Any drugs? Any weapons?’ asked McFarland. [The man] said no.
“The search that followed proved that to be a partial truth. [He] had failed to mention the loaded, semi-automatic, .380 Jennings firearm he had within his reach, within the car.”
Cops arrested the man on weapons and motor vehicle charges.
In other incidents, according to Officer Joe Avery:
Cops chased a driver after he fled from an attempted motor vehicle stop at Dixwell and Henry streets Wednesday night shortly after 7 p.m. The driver crashed into another car at Sherman and Whalley. Cops arrested the 19-year-old fleeing driver on “various motor vehicle charges.” The other car’s two occupants didn’t “suffer any apparent injuries but were transported to the hospital for evaluation.”
Less than an hour later, three masked teens, one of them toting an apparent handgun, “approached” a “male victim” on Bassett Street. “The victim wrestled the handgun, which turned out to be a pellet gun, away from the suspect. Nothing was taken.”