Machete Encounter Exposes Tensions

Neighbors poured onto Frank Street twice in eight days — first to stop a machete-wielding man from attacking a Mexican immigrant, then to protest what they called deeper problems revealed by the encounter.

The first outpouring occurred the Sunday before last. It followed an encounter between Juan Cervantes, a 40-year-old machine operator and Mexican immigrant who moved to Frank Street nine months ago; and David Nevedo, a 65-year-old car mechanic and native of Puerto Rico who has lived across the street for over 20 years.

Commotion & Confusion

Cervantes was parking his car. He said Nevedo approached him and told him he couldn’t park there. Nevedo then hurled racial insults at Cervantes — and started attacking him with a machete, Cervantes said.

Nevedo claims Cervantes had inexplicably started yelling at him and threatening to fight.

Cervantes’s 8‑year-old daughter was watching the scene. She said another man (Nevedo’s son, who lives with him) joined the fray with a bat.

Several neighbors said they heard the commotion and poured onto the street. They called the police, and the Nevedos retreated to their home.

Cops arrived. They spoke with the girl and other neighbors. At first they made no arrest. Nevedo claimed he was the one who had been attacked.

Neighbors got in touch with Unidad Latina en Accion (ULA). ULA organizer John Jairo Lugo arrived on the scene. He demanded to speak to a supervisor.

Eventually a Spanish-speaking officer arrived on the scene. The cops did more interviews. In the end they arrested Nevedo, charging him with breach of peace.

Traffic Stopped

Seven days later, this Sunday morning, neighbors returned to the street in conjunction with members of ULA and Black and Brown United in Action to hold a vigil protesting what had happened with Cervantes and Nevedo. They criticized the police response, saying it shouldn’t have taken a delay and ULA’s intervention before the arrest was made. And they spoke of a longer-running conflict with Nevedo, whom they accused of regularly harassing and threatening immigrant neighbors.

At the vigil, Lugo blocked traffic on Frank Street with his car, allowing the roughly 30 neighbors and protesters to spill into the street and encouraging attendees to share any thoughts or experiences.

Lugo translated for neighbor Jose Luis Piscil, who said he too was verbally threatened by Nevedo multiple times. He said Nevedo once called Latinx immigrants in the neighborhood ​“all a bunch of worms.”

Piscil also said that when his father-in-law lived with him, Nevedo threatened to call immigration. ​“I know that’s the past, but we’re fed up. He needs to stop these attacks on us” Piscil said.

Roberta Lombardi, who has lived next door to the Nevedos for over a year, said when she first moved to the neighborhood, Nevedo yelled at her not to walk her dog on his side of the street.

“You just don’t need a neighbor like that. It causes too many problems for people who didn’t do anything. We all respect each other, we all get along with each other. We all help each other out, except for a few neighbors,” Lombardi said.

Hugo Sampedro, who lived next door for six years, said Nevedo yelled racist insults at him and his family so often they had to move. He said the man would also often spy on them, videotape them, and often threatened to call immigration.

Sampedro said when he was working in the garage or playing music, or even when neighborhood kids were playing outside, the man would appear, calling Mexicans ​“worms.”

“When you touch one of us, you touch the entire community” Lugo said at the end of the event. He stressed the importance of the community holding police accountable to take action rather than sitting back and waiting for justice. ​“I think it’s better when we work as a collective group and we bring the people on the streets. That message is stronger and it was good seeing so many people here united with a message against hate and discrimination,” Lugo said.

“Maybe we can fight the coronavirus with medicine, but the virus of racism and discrimination is hard to fight and I don’t know what the medicine for that is. Maybe it’s the mobilizations and people getting together and being on the streets and being loud to stop this,” Lugo added.

Lugo said he tried to reach out to Nevedo last week, but was met with threats. Neighbors said the man has three pit bulls.

He has warning signs tied up on a locked metal fence guarding his front door.

After the protest, Cervantes’s 8‑year-old daughter, who said she witnessed the attack, came over to talk with Lugo. Her mother Nancy said every time her daughter remembers what happened she cries and has been getting more nervous. Nancy said that now whenever she and her daughter leave their house, Nevedo videotapes them, making the girl more fearful.

Lugo said several volunteer ULA social workers are planning to check in with Nancy and her daughter.

Nevedo’s Version

Nevedo was not present during the protest. He was sitting outside his home mid-day Monday.

He declined to speak in depth about the incident, including whether he had attacked his neighbor with a machete. He called it a police matter.

He did claim that Cervantes had started the dispute by saying, ​“Why the hell are you looking at me? You want to fight?”

Nevedo said before Cervantes moved in, he would watch the house for the contractor remodeling it. He said he keeps an eye out for trouble on the block. He claimed some of his neighbors dealt drugs.

“I’m not looking for trouble,” he said. ​“They’re looking for trouble. … I’m looking out for my neighborhood.”

He denied making slurs against Mexican immigrants. ​“Why” would he? he asked. ​“I’m Spanish, too.”

Police Version

Assistant Police Chief Karl Jacobson said officers didn’t have a full grasp on the situation at first because of confusion over the 911 call.

A dispatcher told them that Nevedo’s daughter had called to say a neighbor was attacking him, according to Jacobson. The dispatcher failed to tell the officers that calls had also come from the Cervantes’ side about a machete attack.

So when the officers arrived they believed they were responding to a complaint from Nevedo — and figured at first, when they started hearing another side, that a complainant would have not called 911 if that complainant were undertaking a machete attack.

Jacobson said the officers took the initiative to call back the 911 dispatcher, at which point they learned about the other 911 call. Jacobson praised the officers for doing their ​“due diligence.”

And when Officer Oscar Diaz arrived and translated the neighbors’ accounts from Spanish to English, the officers were able to piece together the full picture and arrest Nevedo, Jacobson said.

Lugo said he believes the officers should have made an arrest sooner. And he noted that a lack of Spanish-language fluency among 911 dispatchers and cops has been a longstanding concern in New Haven.