Paul Bass Photo
A car was driving the wrong way down the street yet again. Christopher Nguyen knew that can mean trouble.
This was the third time Nguyen had encountered a wrong-way driver in the 10 months he has patrolled New Haven as a police officer.
The first time was harmless: an elderly woman had gotten confused at 7:30 a.m. and driven north on one-way southbound Park Street between Chapel and Edgewood.
The second time turned out to be more serious: He and a partner one night followed a car with plates belonging to a different vehicle as it travelled eastbound on a westbound-only stretch of Elm Street. The car stopped; the three occupants ran. The officers ran, too, caught up with them — and recovered an illegal gun.
The third time came this past Friday night, when a driver was heading south on northbound-only Garden Street. This, too, would end up with a firearm (among other offenses) related arrest. The 125th firearm-related arrest the New Haven police had made so far this year.
The incident offered one example of the kind of motor vehicle infraction that can end up leading to a gun arrest — and the step-by-step actions officers take to make those arrests, in a year when, amid concerns over gun violence, city police have made 20 percent more firearm-related arrests and seized 34 percent more illegal weapons.
Nguyen said he got this Samurai-themed tattoo when he began his professional career because "Samurai culture is very honorable" and he aims "to serve with dignity and honor."
Nguyen (pronounced “Win”), 27, the NHPD’s first Vietnamese-American police officer, didn’t yet know a gun was involved. He was in his patrol car when he saw the silver Mercedes with tinted windows approaching the corner of Garden and Edgewood Avenue near the Dwight Gardens apartment complex and the Dwight-Kensington district police station from the wrong direction at around 10:35 p.m.
He did know he was already looking at a potentially dangerous situation involving an unsafe driver.
He was on his way to respond to a complaint about a customer creating a scene at a Howe Street storefront when he spotted the Mercedes. The Mercedes driver turned right, again against traffic, on Edgewood — and nearly ran right into Nguyen’s cruiser.
The driver then continued driving westbound on eastbound one-way Edgewood Avenue.
Worried the driver would hit someone, Nguyen turned his cruiser around, too. He followed behind, activated his overhead lights. After a few blocks, the Mercedes driver stopped, at Edgewood and Kensington.
Hoping the driver wouldn’t take off again, Nguyen waited for back-up officers to arrive before getting out of his cruiser. He radioed in information about the car; Officer Maurice Randall informed Nguyen that Randall was in the process of investigating an incident that had occurred 15 minutes earlier in the Hill neighborhood, involving the same car. That incident involved an argument between two drivers over a sideswipe hit-and-run, gunfire apparently taking place, and then the Mercedes driver taking off, in the direction of where this Mercedes was now.
"There's No Gun"
Maya McFadden Photo
Officer Brown.
Nguyen’s partner Officer Trevor Brown arrived within five minutes. Plainclothes officers in the area soon followed. They approached the car; Nguyen asked the man, a 29-year-old city resident, to step out of the car. He refused.
The key remained in the the ignition; the car remained running. Nguyen watched closely to see if the driver would try again to flee. Another officer reached in and grabbed the key.
The driver continued to refuse to exit the car. Nguyen managed to pull up the door lock and open the driver’s side door. The officers pulled the man out of the car while, according to Nguyen, he sought to thwart them.
“There’s not a gun in the car,” the man said once he was out.
No one had asked him if there was a gun in the car. That made Nguyen think a gun might be in the car.
The man’s speech was slurred. Nguyen said he smelled alcohol on the man’s breath. The man also walked with a stumble.
So first there was a sobriety test to administer. As Nguyen started to do that, another officer discovered a Sig Sauer SP2022 handgun under the driver’s seat as well as a spent shell casing and nip bottle on the passenger side. A computer check revealed that the man did not have a gun permit, and the Mercedes had the wrong license plate on it.
“I’m gonna pass this test!” the man yelled, according to Nguyen, as the man failed to keep his body still while his eyes followed Nguyen moving a pen side to side six to eight inches from his face. “The entire time he was using his hand,” Nguyen said.
He wasn’t passing the test. Even before he refused to participate in the second half of the test, which would have involved standing with his right foot in front of his left foot with his hands at his side.
The man threatened retribution “if I see you in the street,” Nguyen said. “You’re lucky you have your backup around.”
Doctor. Lawyer. Public Safety Officer
Asst. Chief Zannelli (pictured at center during a Winthrop Avenue community walk): Fewer cops, more gun arrests.
Nguyen has learned not to take such comments personally, he said: People who are upset during arrests often behave that way. He said he was able to stay calm and complete the arrest. The man was charged with nine driving, DUI, and gun-related offenses in connection with both the Dwight stop and the Hill hit-and-run and gunfire. The man, who has net yet entered a plea in court according to the state’s judicial database, remains in custody on $350,000 bond.
The police also were able to tie the man to the firing of gunshots earlier in the neighborhood, according to Assistant Police Chief David Zannelli.
Police have made over 120 such firearms-related arrests so far in 2023, compared to under 100 over the same period in 2022, Zannelli said. They’ve seized over 120 illegal guns, compared to under 80 so far last year.
“There is a readiness of people to use firearms more than ever,” Zannelli observed. “The NHPD is working extra hard; even though we’re short staffed, we’re making more arrests and seizing more guns.” He credited Nguyen with “good instincts” and responding appropriately to a motor vehicle offense; he said 80 percent of illegal gun seizures result from motor vehicle enforcement.
Nguyen said he became a cop to make a difference, to help people. He was raised in Newington, Connecticut, where his parents, Vietnamese immigrants, ran a nail salon. They wanted Nguyen and his older brother Jimmy to “become doctors or lawyers,” Nguyen said. But “I was never a school type of person” and “didn’t want to be in an office job.” He earned a criminology degree from Central Connecticut State University in pursuit of a cop career. He first worked corrections (managing to avoid Covid during the height of the pandemic) while coaching Wethersfield high school football on the side, then landed the NHPD job, completing the academy and beginning patrols last July. Jimmy had by that time already joined East Haven’s police force.
Nguyen said he feels he makes a difference, including with gun arrests like last Friday night’s.
He acknowledged that gun violence is widespread. But, like other officers who have been asked about gun arrests, he said he saw his job as preventing a crime at a time. “You can’t protect the future,” but an illegal weapon removed from someone involved in criminal behavior could very well have been used to harm someone.
Nguyen has drawn another conclusion from his first year on patrol. “There are a lot of one-way streets in New Haven.”
Previous stories about officers on the beat:
• Shafiq Abdussabur
• Yessennia Agosto
• Craig Alston & Billy White Jr.
• Joseph Aurora
• James Baker
• Lloyd Barrett
• Pat Bengston & Mike Valente
• Elsa Berrios
• Manmeet Bhagtana (Colon)
• Paul Bicki
• Paul Bicki (2)
• Sheree Biros
• Bitang
• Kevin Blanco
• Scott Branfuhr
• Bridget Brosnahan
• Thomas Brunski, Trevor Canace, Nick Samartino, Daniel Smith
• Craig Burnett & Orlando Crespo
• Keron Bryce and Steve McMorris
• Keron Bryce and Osvaldo Garcia
• Keron Bryce and Osvaldo Garcia (2)
• Dennis Burgh
• Tyler Camp
• Anthony Campbell
• Darryl Cargill & Matt Wynne
• Elizabeth Chomka & Becky Fowler
• Rob Clark & Joe Roberts
• Sydney Collier
• Carlos Conceicao
• Carlos Conceicao (2)
• Carlos Conceicao and Josh Kyle
• David Coppola
• Mike Criscuolo
•Natalie Crosby
• Steve Cunningham and Timothy Janus
• Chad Curry
• Gabrielle Curtis, Tyler Evans, Justin Julianelle
• Gregory Dash
• Roy Davis
• Joe Dease
• Milton DeJesus
• Milton DeJesus (2)
• Rose Dell
• Brian Donnelly
• Renee Dominguez, Leonardo Soto, & Mary Helland
• Anthony Duff
• Anthony Duff (2)
• Robert DuPont
• Robert DuPont and Rose Dell
• Eric Eisenhard & Jasmine Sanders
• Jeremie Elliott and Scott Shumway
• Jeremie Elliott (2)
• Jose Escobar Sr.
• Bertram Ettienne
• Bertram Ettienne (2)
• Daniel Evans & Ramonel Torres
• Martin Feliciano & Lou DeCrescenzo
• Paul Finch
• Jeffrey Fletcher
• Renee Forte
• Marco Francia
• Michael Fumiatti
• Michael Fumiatti (2)
• Osvaldo Garcia, Marlena Ofiara & Jake Wright
• William Gargone
• William Gargone (2)
• William Gargone & Mike Torre
• Derek Gartner
• Derek Gartner & Ryan Macuirzynski
• Tom Glynn & Matt Williams
• Jon Haddad & Daniela Rodriguez
• Michael Haines
• Michael Haines & Brendan Borer
• Michael Haines & Brendan Borer (2)
• Dan Hartnett
• Ray Hassett
• Robert Hayden
• Heidi
• Patricia Helliger
• Robin Higgins
• Ronnell Higgins
• William Hurley & Eddie Morrone
• Derek Huelsman
• Racheal Inconiglios
• Juan Ingles
• Bleck Joseph and Marco Correa
• Shayna Kendall
• Shayna Kendall (2)
• Paul Kenney
• Hilda Kilpatrick
• Herb Johnson
• John Kaczor & Alex Morgillo
• Jillian Knox
• Peter Krause
• Peter Krause (2)
• Amanda Leyda
• Rob Levy
•Kyle Listro & Joseph Perrotti
• Anthony Maio
• Dana Martin
• Ashley McKernan
• Reggie McGlotten
• Steve McMorris
• Juan Monzon
• Monique Moore and David Santiago
• Matt Myers
• Carlos and Tiffany Ortiz
• Tiffany Ortiz
• Doug Pearse and Brian Jackson
• Chris Perrone
• Joseph Perrotti
• Joseph Perrotti & Gregory Dash
• Ron Perry
• Joe Pettola
• Diego Quintero and Elvin Rivera
• Ryan Przybylski
• Stephanie Redding
• Tony Reyes
•David Rivera
• Luis & David Rivera
• Luis Rivera (2)
• Salvador Rodriguez
• Salvador Rodriguez (2)
• Michael Rubino and Roberto Talloni
• Brett Runlett
• David Runlett
• Betsy Segui & Manmeet Colon
• Allen Smith
• Marcus Tavares
• Martin Tchakirides
• David Totino
• Stephan Torquati
• Gene Trotman Jr.
* Elisa Tuozzoli
• Kelly Turner
• Lars Vallin (& Xander)
• Dave Vega & Rafael Ramirez
• Earl Reed
• Daophet Sangxayarath & Jessee Buccaro
• Jason Santiago
• Herb Sharp
• Matt Stevens and Jocelyn Lavandier
• Jessica Stone
• Jessica Stone & Mike DeFonzo
• Arpad Tolnay
• Mike Torre & Ray Saracco
• John Velleca
• Manuella Vensel
• Holly Wasilewski
• Holly Wasilewski (2)
• Alan Wenk
• Stephanija VanWilgen
• Donald White, Brandon Way, & David Santiago
• Elizabeth White & Allyn Wright
• Matt Williams
• Michael Wuchek
• Michael Wuchek (2)
• David Zannelli
• Cailtin Zerella
• Caitlin Zerella (2)
• Caitlin Zerella, Derek Huelsman, David Diaz, Derek Werner, Nicholas Katz, and Paul Mandel
• David Zaweski