2 Arrested, Crimes Continue In Beaver Hills

A day after after Beaver Hills pleaded with the mayor and top cops for help, two more crimes unsettled the neighborhood — and the police announced two arrests they consider tied to a spike in violence.

Those were the latest developments in a simmering confrontation between one of the New Haven neighborhoods hit by increased violence this year and officials struggling to contain it with a reduced police force.

Over 100 Beaver Hills neighbors spent more than two hours pouring out their hearts to Mayor Justin Elicker and Chief Otoniel Reyes in a Zoom meeting Wednesday night. (Read about that here.) The neighborhood has both a sizable Black population and a fast-growing Orthodox Jewish population affiliated with the Lubavitch Hasidic movement.

The latest incidents have involved some religious-connected encounters (read about that here), but the bigger problem has involved shootings, break-ins and muggings that distinguish not between race or religion.

Beaver Hills is hardly the only neighborhood facing an uptick in violent crime. Overall crime remains on a downward trend. Violent crime, on the other hand, has risen in the pandemic not just in New Haven, but in cities nationwide. Beaver Hills has had a definite increase in reported violent crime: So far this year, the department has detected 18 shooting incidents in the police district that includes Beaver Hills. There were only seven by this time last year. Robberies with a firearm have also increased significantly since last year. And the neighborhood has among the most organized citizenry citywide demanding action from people in charge. They’re seeking relief for both high-priority violence as well as quality-of-life crimes that tear daily at the neighborhood’s fabric.

The 3rd Break-in

The same night as the Zoom meeting, someone broke into Congregation Chabad Lubavitch on Norton Street. The burglar ripped a pushke (donation box) from the wall and made off with it, while rifling through other religious objects and ransacking the facility, according to synagogue leaders. They said video caught the burglar in the act, and that he is the same person police previously arrested for breaking into the facility. The alleged burglar went to court, was released, and has now broken into the building two more times, said congregation President Moti Sandman.

Avi Meer, an active synagogue member as well as president of the Shulounge next door, one of numerous smaller spin-off prayer spaces that have sprung up in the neighborhood as hundreds of Orthodox families have moved in, said he believes the break-ins are not religiously-motivated. Families of all backgrounds have had homes broken into, not to mention feeling unsafe while hearing gunshots outside their doors. Hundreds of neighbors of all backgrounds have been sharing these stories for years now on a busy WhatsApp chat as well as at community meetings.

“We need to have these things stopped while they’re still small,” Meer said of the repeat break-ins in an interview Friday at the shul, or ​“we have to have a disaster” to get results?

Assistant Chief Karl Jacobson said the police will continue investigating these break-ins and pursuing those responsible. In cases like this one involving repeat offenders, he said, police will seek to have a judge order arrestees placed on electronic monitoring if they are to be re-released from custody.

The Assault

Thursday night, a more violent incident occurred a little before midnight at the corner of Bellevue Road and Glen Road.

Nir Bongart (pictured at the top of this story) said he was riding his bike home from a friend’s house when he noticed a car slowing down at that corner, stopping in front of a different one of his friends’ homes. He said he heard yelling from inside the car. Concerned about recent crimes, he stopped his bike to take a look.

First one, then three other people emerged from the car and ran toward him, he said.

One of the runners ​“hit me in the back of the head” and knocked him to the ground.

“Then the first kick I got was in my face. The blood got in my eye,” he said.

The group kept kicking him, he said. He asked what they wanted. He said they asked for his wallet. He asked to be able to stand up. They kept kicking instead, he said. ​“Fifteen to 20 times.”

He finally did manage to stand. The group ran back to the car, and the driver fled the scene, he said. He heard the attackers laughing.

Bongart, whose eye was swollen, was taken the hospital, then released. He said Friday that he’s OK. ​“I’m lucky,” he said.

Police said they are investigating the incident.

The Arrests

Meanwhile, they made two separate arrests on Thursday that they believe are connected to some of the recent shootings in the neighborhood, Chief Otoniel Reyes said.

In the first case, an officer spotted an 18-year-old man across town on Quinnipiac Avenue around 12:40 p.m. The officer recognized the person as someone who has been involved in local crime; they have made ​“custodial visits” to his home, and he knows the officer, as well, according to Assistant Chief Karl Jacobson.

The officer noticed a gun bulging from the man’s pocket, Jacobson said. The officer called out to the man and said he saw the gun. The man pulled out the gun and started ​“waving it in the air.”

The officer technically would have been justified using his own gun, said Chief Reyes. Instead the officer wrestled with the man and got the gun away. The man was arrested on a gun charge. And police believe the gun was used in one of the recent shootings in Beaver Hills.

Then, around 8 p.m., an officer noticed someone driving recklessly in the area of Dixwell Avenue and Munson Street. The officer tried to stop the driver as he approached Orchard Street and Edgewood Avenue. The driver took off — and eventually crashed into a light pole at Edgewood and Howe Street. The driver took off on foot; police caught him. They found a gun in the car and drugs on the arrestee, according to Jacobson. And police have ​“strong leads” tying the car to a Beaver Hills shooting.

What’s Next

“We’re hearing the community loud and clear. I hate when the community is feeling fearful. We’ve been working hard to address the violent crime” in neighborhoods like Beaver Hills, Reyes said Friday.

He delivered a similar message at Wednesday night’s Zoom meeting. He discouraged neighbors from starting their own armed patrols. On Friday, he spoke of how before the pandemic hit, the department had been working on a pilot effort in Beaver Hills to revive block watches. He said he’s hoping to have the department revive that effort now.

Back at Congregation Chabad Lubavitch, Avi Meer (pictured above) said he and others have grown frustrated hearing officials speak of the shortage of cops and budget pressures. He understands those pressures, he said. But the community still expects better.

In addition to organizing hundreds of neighbors through WhatsApp and other measures, neighbors have worked to develop relationships with their district manager (top neighborhood cop).

But since 2014, Meer observed, the district has cycled through six different district managers. Some have done terrific jobs, only to retire or be reassigned. The current district manager, Lt. John Healy, has now been in place a couple of years, but he has since been assigned a second district. That’s because shortages in supervisory ranks have limited the number of people available to serve as district manager, a problem the department has worked to address through promotions as well as trying to replenish the ranks of beat cops.

Meer said the community is not asking the police simply to arrest and lock up people. Instead, he described a vision that encapsulates New Haven’s definition of community policing: Officers who hang out and get to know the neighbors, show up at events, not just in response to crimes, and work together with the community to keep their streets safer.

Central to that strategy is having enough cops to walk beats and interact with people rather than spending all their time chasing 911 calls.

Right now, the department has 347 cops. Of those, 22 are still in the academy. Another dozen are out injured. The department has historically had as many as 100 more positions, with many more of them filled.

“We do not have that luxury [of hiring more cops] unless people are willing to pay more taxes,” Elicker said at Wednesday night’s community meeting after hearing how many more officers the city used to have. ​“Everyone wants more beat cops. Everyone wants more bicycle cops. We just don’t have that luxury right now.”

That explanation, while based on fact, still sounded like an ​“excuse” to Avi Meer, who held a fundraiser for Elicker when he ran for mayor in 2019.

“You’re limited with a budget. Tell me one thing that’s more important than people’s safety,” Meer said.

Elicker was asked about that on Friday.

“Just because we have very limited funds doesn’t mean we can’t do anything,” Elicker said. ​“Lt. Healy has worked very hard to respond to the incidents that have come up. Each incident requires a different response. We have increased police presence in the Beaver Hills neighborhood, and will continue to do so to address the problem.”

“Everyone deserves to be safe,” the mayor added.

“I know it’s a challenge,” Meer said. But ​“we’re getting excuses. We’re not getting results.”

Among ideas floated in the neighborhood: increasing street lighting, working with nonprofits that help young people who have gotten involved in crime, putting up more cameras, and of course continuing to organize neighbors across demographic lines. Stay tuned for more.