New Details Emerge On Why Cop Let Pan Go

A North Haven cop was with Qinxuan Pan when the officer received a New Haven police broadcast that an alleged murderer was on the loose — someone driving a dark-colored GMC Terrain SUV.

The officer already knew that Pan had been driving a GMC Terrain SUV with plates that didn’t match the registration. He had found Pan driving in a closed junkyard. Pan couldn’t really explain to the officer’s satisfaction what he was doing driving on railroad tracks in the junkyard, or the mismatched plates.

Then he let Pan go. Pan fled the state, and has now returned to face murder charges only after a months-long nationwide manhunt caught up with him.

How did that happen?

A New Haven police dispatcher’s erroneous report that the man who allegedly murdered Yale grad student Kevin Jiang was Black played a critical role in allowing the true homicide suspect, who is Asian, to escape potential custody and flee the state.

So did some informed leniency on the part of the North Haven police.

Those new details emerge in a four-page arrest warrant affidavit written on Feb. 8 by North Haven Police Officer Marcus Artaiz, building on details that trickled out in recent weeks after police remained mum for months about how an alleged killer managed to escape their grasp.

Click here to read the full affidavit.

The warrant charges 30-year-old MIT artificial intelligence researcher Qinxuan Pan with one felony count of second-degree larceny for allegedly stealing a dark blue SUV from a Massachusetts car dealership. Pan was arraigned on that larceny charge in the Meriden state courthouse on Tuesday.

The larceny warrant serves as a companion piece of sorts to a separate, heftier charge Pan is facing — one felony count of murder. That latter charge is for Pan’s alleged shooting and killing of Jiang on Feb. 6 near Jiang’s fiancee’s apartment on Lawrence Street in New Haven’s Goatville neighborhood. The New Haven murder warrant also ties Pan to a series of other gun offenses that took place across New Haven in the weeks and months before Jiang’s murder, including shots fired at an assistant superintendent’s house the night before.

Pan appeared in the New Haven state courthouse on Church Street Tuesday for a hearing about his $20 million bond in that murder case. State Superior Court Judge Gerald Harmon ultimately pushed out until July 28 any debate in Pan’s petition for a lower bond, so as to give time to the state Supreme Court to rule in a related bond reduction motion filed by Pan’s attorney, William Gerace.

Pan has not yet entered a plea of guilty or innocent to either the New Haven murder charge or the North Haven larceny charge.

Two Key Missteps

While the murder case continues, the North Haven police warrant — obtained on Tuesday by the Independent — reveals two key missteps by two different public agencies in the hours after Jiang’s murder.

Those mistakes appear to have allowed Pan to flee potential arrest in North Haven and go on the lam for more than three months.

U.S. Marshals wound up arresting him on May 14 in Montgomery, Alabama after a nationwide manhunt.

The North Haven police error the night of Feb. 6 involved letting Pan go and having a tow truck driver escort Pan to a nearby hotel — even though officers had found him driving a car with a stolen license plate on the train tracks near a metal scrap yard.

As revealed for the first time in the North Haven arrest warrant, a North Haven police officer was still with Pan when the officer first found out that a murder had taken place in New Haven earlier that night. The warrant states that that North Haven officer also knew while still with Pan that the very same type of car he had found Pan in was potentially connected to the homicide.

The New Haven police dispatch error that night, meanwhile, involved an ​“Officer Safety” broadcast sent out by a city dispatcher at around 10:22 p.m.

That New Haven bulletin, which was heard by the North Haven police officer while he was still with Pan, said that a murder had taken place in the city earlier in the night. It reported that a black GMC Terrain was potentially involved. It also stated that —according to Artaiz’s affidavit — ​“the vehicle was possibly occupied by two individuals, one of which was possibly a black male wearing a yellow sweater or coat.”

The information about the suspect’s race wound up having no foundation. No 911 calls, no witnesses, no evidence at the scene pointed to a potential Black suspect.

(“It was later determined that the police dispatcher erroneously broadcasted that the occupant was possibly a black male,” New Haven Police Det. David Zaweski wrote in the separate New Haven arrest warrant affidavit, which was first released weeks ago. ​“No witnesses on scene, nor any 911 callers, described the occupant(s) of the SUV as a black male.”)

Artaiz’s write up in the newly released affidavit indicates just how consequential that New Haven error was in influencing his subsequent interactions with Pan the night of the murder.

NHPD Broadcast Info ​“Did Not Match” Pan

Artaiz wrote that he followed Pan’s tow-truck escort to a nearby Best Western hotel in North Haven.

While still with Pan at the hotel, the North Haven police officer received the New Haven police dispatch about the black SUV, the yellow coat, and the potential Black male suspect.

“I remained with the vehicle and Pan for a short period of time pending additional information,” Artaiz wrote in the North Haven warrant, ​“and eventually responded back to North Haven Police headquarters as the information contained in the broadcast did not match the operator.”

Artaiz also missed in the moment a key detail that he would only observe the following day — well after Pan had fled the hotel and started heading south.

“It should be noted that upon reviewing body camera footage on 02/07/2021 of my interaction with Pan the previous night, a tan or yellow jacket or garment was observed on the passenger side floor board of the vehicle,” Artaiz wrote.

Later in the North Haven warrant affidavit, Artaiz repeats why he let Pan go — even as he remained with Pan at the time that he received the New Haven Police dispatch about the recent, nearby homicide.

“That the broadcast issued by the New Haven Police Department regarding their homicide described a possibly a black male [sp.] wearing a yellow coat or sweater and a black GMC SUV,” he wrote. ​“Pan is an Asian male and his GMC is dark blue but could be easily mistaken for black in the nighttime. Pan was also in the possession of a yellow jacket during his interaction with the North Haven Police Department on 02/06/2021 based on body camera footage that was viewed the day following the undersigned’s contact with Pan.”

The narrative laid out in Artaiz’s affidavit closely matches some details provided to the Independent by North Haven Police Chief Kevin Glenn in the days after the homicide. Glynn said Pan’s driver’s license checked out that night. That North Haven PD didn’t find out until after they had let Pan go that the car was stolen.

But Glynn left out two key details in that previous interview. He didn’t say that North Haven police knew at the time that the car’s license plate was stolen. And he didn’t say that an officer was still with Pan at the time that a New Haven Police dispatcher sent out a bulletin about the homicide.

What About The Stolen License Plate?

The North Haven warrant raises another set of questions, independent of the New Haven police dispatch’s erroneous description of a potential Black male suspect.

Why did the North Haven police let Pan go even after finding him driving around in a car with a stolen license plate on railroad tracks near a scrap metal yard?

The warrant doesn’t answer that question.

It does, however, provide more details, from the North Haven police’s perspective, on what that encounter looked like.

Artaiz wrote that at around 8:57 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6, he and North Haven Police Sgt. Mills were dispatched to Sims Metal Management on Universal Drive for the report of ​“a suspicious vehicle in the lot.”

Security on scene at the metal lot said that a black vehicle had entered the lot, drove through the property towards the rear, and headed onto the CSX Railroad property.

Upon arriving, Mills and Artaiz found a dark blue 2015 GMC Terrain with a Connecticut commercial registration.

Mills spoke with the operator of the vehicle, and quickly identified him as Pan, based on the latter’s Massachusetts driver’s license.

“The vehicle was straddling one of the rails of one of the railroad tracks and Pan could not get the vehicle off the tracks,” Artaiz wrote.

“Pan reported he took a wrong turn or missed the highway entrance as he was trying to get to Massachusetts but could not explain why he drove through the Sims property onto the tracks.”

North Haven police called Nelcon Service Center to the site to tow the vehicle in question.

While waiting for the tow truck driver to arrive, North Haven police learned that the license plate on the vehicle was ​“a misuse.”

The plate belonged to a 2020 Kenworth commercial construction vehicle and had been previously entered into the NCIC/COLLECT database ​“as lost or missing” by the Newington Police Department.

“Pan reported the vehicle was a rental out of Massachusetts but could not provide rental agreement paperwork for this Officer to cross reference,” Artaiz wrote.

The vehicle identification number on the SUV came back to a GMC Terrain registered in Massachusetts, the North Haven officer continued.

“Pan reported he did not change the plate on the vehicle at any point and was unsure as the why [sp.] the plate did not match. During my interaction with Pan it appeared the vehicle was consistent with a rental as it appeared clean and there was no personal style contents aside from a blue back pack and a black brief case style bag. The blue back pack was on the front passenger seat and the briefcase was in the rear passenger compartment.”

Sgt. Mills also indicated he had observed ​“a blue plastic retail bag with a Massachusetts insignia on it in the rear passenger compartment.”

After the tow truck driver arrived, Pan’s vehicle was towed from the lot ​“and the tow operator agreed to transport Pan to” the Best Western Hotel on Washington Avenue.

“This Officer followed the vehicle to Best Western,” Artaiz wrote. ​“Shortly after arrival, North Haven police dispatch relayed the New Haven Police Department issued a broadcast indicating they were looking for a black GMC Terrain that was involved in a homicide in their town. New Haven relayed the vehicle was possibly occupied by two individuals, one of which was possibly a black male wearing a yellow sweater or coat.”

After Artaiz had let Pan go, North Haven police dispatch received a call from the Mansfield Police Department in Massachusetts regarding the GMC Terrain.

The Mansfield police had received a notification that North Haven had conducted an NCIC inquiry on the vehicle. They advised North Haven police that Pan had taken the vehicle from a dealership in Massachusetts ​“to bring to a mechanic but never returned it.” The Mansfield police subsequently identified that vehicle as stolen.

The next morning, at around 11 on Sunday, Sgt. Mills responded to the Arby’s Restaurant on Washington Avenue with other patrol officers after receiving a call regarding ​“a found bag containing a firearm and ammunition.” The Arby’s is located just north of the Best Western Hotel where Pan had been dropped off and let go the night before. Arby’s employees reported finding the bags on the north side of the restaurant’s driveway.

Inside the bag the North Haven officers found a silver .45 caliber Ruger SR1911 semi-automatic pistol with wood grips, numerous magazines, and boxes of ammunition.

“The pistol was cleared as it was loaded with a round in the chamber. Sergeant Mills looked closer at the bag it was found in, a small leather brief case along with a blue plastic retail type of bag with a Massachusetts logo on it.

“Sergeant Mills immediately recognized these two bags as the bags that were in the GMC Terrain that was towed the previous night from the CSX railroad tracks off of Universal Drive. Further, the State of Connecticut tow form that was completed by the undersigned the previous night was located in the black briefcase as a copy was provided to Pan on scene.”

Another North Haven officer located a ​“yellow, light-weight jacket in the blue bag along with additional items.”

Still No Glasses

None of the details of the case were discussed in New Haven state court on Tuesday. Instead, state Superior Court Judge Gerald Harmon presided over a three-minute procedural hearing where he pushed out debate over Pan’s bond reduction request until later in the month.

Gerace, Pan’s attorney, explained that he has filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court to have reduced the initial $20 million bond set by state Superior Court Judge Brian Fischer during Pan’s arraignment on the murder charge.

The Supreme Court justices have sent that appeal back to Judge Fischer, he said, to have a hearing on why he set the bond at $20 million, or to articulate why he picked that number. Gerace said he’s filed a separate petition with Fischer to allow for another hearing so that Gerace can dispute some of the allegations made by the state’s attorney’s office during the arraignment.

“It’s our position that some of the representations made at the arraignment are factually incorrect,” he said.

Gerace also said that, despite his request at Pan’s previous court hearing, his client has still not received a pair of eyeglasses while he is detained at Cheshire Correctional.

“We brought him glasses twice,” Gerace said. Both pairs were rejected because they had wire in them, he said.

“It’s not good,” Gerace said about Pan’s lack of glasses. ​“I’m dealing with the warden on that. You would think it’s a basic right that he should be able to read.”

Unlike at last month’s hearing, Pan’s parents did not show up to the New Haven courthouse on Tuesday to show support for their son.

Why not? Gerace said he told them not to make the drive down from Massachusetts, because he knew the judge would be delaying arguments on the bond reduction motion until the Supreme Court weighed in. Gerace said Pan’s parents are still very involved in the case.