Police Sunday arrested a 29-year-old man nicknamed “BJ” for the 29th time.
This time they charged him with home invasion, unlawful restraint, reckless endangerment, second-degree threatening, third-degree assault, and second-degree mischief — in connection with the alleged kidnapping of his 26-year-old ex-girlfriend.
Here’s what happened, according to police spokesman Officer David Hartman:
The father of the ex-girlfriend approached Officer Martin Feliciano on State Street at 5:06 p.m Sunday to report that BJ had held the woman hostage from 11:30 p.m. Saturday through noon Sunday, after she had returned home to find her apartment’s front door locked and climbed in a window to see if anyone was inside.
When she got in, she found BJ, she said. “Intoxicated and agitated,” he pinned her to the kitchen floor at knifepoint for four hours.
“She said she kept calm and spoke with [BJ]. She said he seemed to calm down himself. She said he allowed her to sit on a couch. At that time, she received a phone call from her child’s father. [BJ] is alleged to have reacted by striking her in the face several times with a closed fist” until she fought back, Hartman reported. She eventually was able to text the word “help” to her child’s father. BJ at one point apologized. At other times, he allegedlly trashed the place, “randomly breaking things.”
BJ took her phone and spoke to her child’s father. She said he wasn’t making much sense. She got the phone back eventually and texted him the word “Help,” who later showed up, at 7 p.m., scared BJ away, and drove the woman to West Haven.
The woman was treated for her “many bruises.” A half hour later, BJ called police to claim that the ex-girlfriend’s child’s father had harassed him. “The call taker told him to stay there and an officer would be promptly dispatched to entertain his complaint,” Hartman reported.. Officers did show up — and made the arrest.
Curious, since he's 29 - obviously not a juvenile - is there a reason NHI does not name him and instead refers to him as "BJ"? Someone with a streak of criminality like that should be publicly identified. It's unusual for a newspaper to hide someone's identity when reporting an arrest, never mind an arrestee with that kind of criminal history. Even people arrested for the first time get their name in the paper. What's up with that?
(Ed. Our policy is not to name people accused of crimes upon arrest before hearing their side or before a case is adjudicated unless there is a compelling public policy or safety reason. We were not writing here about his past 28 crimes. We were writing about unproven allegations.)