Suspect Charged; Cops "Take Over" Crown St.

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Suspect Charged; Cops “Take Over” Crown St.

by Thomas MacMillan | Sep 24, 2010 7:43 am

(16) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Legal Writes, Downtown

(Updated) Hours after taking a suspect in Sunday’s downtown shootout into custody, police turned their focus to checking on liquor licenses—and examining a college night foam pit—as part of a crackdown on Crown Street clubs.

Club Static was the first to host law enforcement on Thursday evening. A stream of cops and liquor control agents filed into the Static nightclub to check liquor licenses and to see if the club’s college-night foam-pit was sanitary. Police said that’s where a fight started that led to a shootout early Sunday morning that left at least two people injured. Michael Andrews, owner of Static, denied the claim.

(Click the play arrow above to see cops enter the club.)

The visit came after a 9:30 p.m. street corner announcement by Chief Frank Limon that a suspect in Sunday’s shooting on Crown and College Street had been detained.

Police say the 26-year-old suspect fired a gun at police during a shootout early Sunday morning. Dozens of shots appear to have been fired during the incident, some by police. Two people were injured in the gunfire, though not by officers’ bullets, police have said.

The shootout has prompted public outcry about safety in New Haven’s Crown Street club district. In a press conference Tuesday, the mayor and chief of police promised a crackdown on nightclubs, including a stepped-up police presence and enforcement of noise and sanitary conditions. Those measures became visible Thursday night. Police were out in force on Crown Street, watching the street, checking IDs and pulling liquor licenses. Police also set up mobile command posts at Temple and Crown and College and George, where cops were monitoring live video feeds of Crown Street.

On Friday afternoon, police released stats on Thursday night’s enforcement. Two underage drinking violations were found. One robbery arrest, one interfering with an officer arrest were made. Police made 23 motor vehicle stops, including one drunk driver, and made two motor vehicle arrests. Police investigated five suspicious persons, one loud party complaint, and two trespassing incidents.

Cops also enforced a whopping 76 parking violations. Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts said in August that bar district enforcement could be funded in part by increased ticketing.

Chief Frank Limon (pictured) made his arrest announcement at the corner of Crown and Temple Streets, flanked by New Haven and Yale police, state liquor control agents, and police commissioner Richard Epstein.

“We had three officers with less than two years on the job,” he began, referring to the three cops involved in Sunday’s shootout. “They took an oath of office to serve and protect. Sunday morning they did that. They stood up to the plate and put their life at risk to save people’s lives. They were shot at.”

The shooters were people who had been in Static, Limon said. A fight started there, then moved to the street and escalated to a gun battle, he said.

A 27-year-old has been arrested for his part in the shootout, Limon said. He has a criminal record and is a recently released convicted felon, he said.

The man is being charged with assault on a police officer, conspiracy and intent to commit assault, criminal possession of a pistol by a felon, unlawful discharge, carrying a pistol without a permit.

Chief Limon declined to provide details on how police found the man. He said only that police found an eyewitness who identified the suspect. The Register’s Bill Kaempffer reported Thursday that the man was under guard at a local hospital, where he arrived with a gunshot wound.

Police said more arrests are expected soon.

“We want to emphasize that this fight started in the Static nightclub,” Limon said. He said police plan to continue Operation Nightlife, the ongoing police enforcement of the club district, including ID checks and liquor permit enforcement.

“We’re asking the club owners, all the liquor establishments, to step up to the plate, to be responsible for their patrons inside their clubs and not only stop there but also be responsible when they leave the clubs,” Limon said. He said he hopes to sit down with club owners to come up with a plan to “sustain a safe neighborhood downtown in the district.”

In August, Mayor John DeStefano met with club owners to try to get them to voluntarily pay for extra cops in the bar district. Bar owners resisted that plan and the meeting dissolved in disagreement.

Chief Limon declined to comment on that plan. “I’m just going to tell you what we’re going to do. What we asked them to do before, it’s off the table. We’re going to take over and we’re going to provide safety in the district now.”

Moments later, the Chief led police and reporters on an inspection of the club district, starting with Static. Downtown top cop Lt. Rebecca Sweeney and liquor control agents found an empty club. Club manager Andrew Behm produced his ID and the bar’s liquor license for inspection.

Thomas MacMillan Photo In the rear of the club, workers were setting up a giant inflatable enclosure. “It’s a foam party,” a staffer said. The blue pit would be filled with soapy foam for people to play in, he explained.

Police called a health department inspector to check on the foam pit. The results of that inspection were not available by press time.

Stan Burk, an agent with state liquor control, said Static did not have adequate barriers between the underage and over-21 sections of the bar. He said he had not determined if it amounted to a full violation.

Andrews (pictured), the owner of Static, said the plexiglass barrier had been knocked over by the inflation of the foam pit and said it would be in place before clubgoers arrived.

Andrews vehemently denied Chief Limon’s statement that Sunday’s gun battle started as a fight in Static.

“There was no fight here,” he said. “It’s completely absurd and bullshit.”

Andrews said he has security tapes from Saturday night that show there were no fights in the club. He said security pats down and uses a metal detecting wand on all clubgoers at the door.

“The problem didn’t come from here,” he said.

Around the corner, near the site of Sunday’s shooting, a large police bus at the corner of George and College Streets was humming and filled with a pink glow. Inside, Lt. Robert Muller was monitoring several live video feeds from cameras on Crown Street. It was a consolidation of footage from about 12 Yale security cameras and Board of Education cameras, Muller said.

The cameras could be monitored from anywhere, Muller said. Parking the van near the site of the shooting provides “high visibility” for police, Muller said. The bus will be parked there through the weekend, he said.

Police presence and enforcement on Crown Street continued through the evening. The sidewalks were filled with young women wearing tiny dresses and teetering on high heels, young men in graphic tees and distressed jeans, and beefy bouncers presiding over lines into the bars.

Chief Limon walked from club to club. He said he was saying hello to owners.

At around 11 p.m., police had two cars pulled over at the corner of Crown and Temple. A man was being held in the back of a cruiser nearby. A bystander said the man had been caught urinating in the parking garage.

“What are you doing here?” shouted one college student. She objected to the presence of so many cops and reporters on Crown Street. “You’re ruining our night!”

Comments

posted by: robn on September 24, 2010 8:47am

There’s never been a shooting at the Anchor, or Zinc restaurant, or Subway sandwiches. So why should they be taxed to pay for the irresponsible behavior of others? Don’t tax responsible business owners because some irresponsible ones throw underage events. Shut the irresponsible ones down. Drive them into the ocean with civil suits.

posted by: newhavencity on September 24, 2010 9:03am

this brings to mind ‘don’t get involved in a land war in southeast Asia” The mayor and the police have taken a action in the city’s center, but how and when will this action end and at what cost, it can not be kept up for any length of time, for example THE CORRIDOR,
Nice show but how much substance and how about the rest of the city that waits and waits for action from the PD that never comes

posted by: streever on September 24, 2010 9:34am

While I agree with newhavencity in the broad sense that we do need more enforcement in other areas of the city, I think that Chief Limon & Lt Sweeney showed a great response to the incident from the other night. Nice work.

I also agree with Robn that we must be careful when we levy taxes/extra fees in the area and not impact restaurants and bars which have never contributed to the policing demand that is currently being seen.

posted by: Yay College! on September 24, 2010 9:35am

After watching that video, I’m thinking cocaine and alcohol may be equally responsible for causing all these problems. How does cocaine get to New Haven, I wonder?

posted by: Fact Checker on September 24, 2010 9:37am

Got to love how “College Night” is used as a euphemism for what was more rightfully a “High School Night” at Static.

Walking down Crown Street, some of the Static-goers couldn’t have been older than high school sophomores, if not even younger.

posted by: Clubbin 4 Life on September 24, 2010 9:54am

Yo,

Bro. Listen. New Haven police are way too up tight about this. They harassed me an my bros and I wasn’t even able to creep on any girls. And then they try to mess with our foam pit?! Don’t do it bro. You know how much the foam pit has given me: Seven Times Daily. That’s how much. And the cameras bro? Really? This is like that reality show Big Brother.

Whatever. I’m going to watch Jersey Shore.

posted by: Walt on September 24, 2010 9:58am

Good, but the bar-owners who entice the troublemakers onto Crown Street. and net big profits from them, should be paying the tab, not the regular taxpayers of New Haven.

posted by: Townie on September 24, 2010 9:59am

It would be nice to see such a show of force in areas that actually do suffer from crime, i.e. Edgewood, The Hill, Newhallville, Fair Haven, etc.
But I guess someone has to make sure the foam is clean.
Gotta love New Haven.

posted by: davec on September 24, 2010 11:31am

BDH over at the 14,000 article is correct. Put Bear and Marshmallow on the scene. A couple take no guff mounted units should help clear things up quicker.

posted by: Doug Hausladen on September 24, 2010 11:47am

Please join the Downtown-Wooster Square Community Management Team on October 5th at 6pm at the Omni Hotel for a Downtown Quality of Life and Security Summit.

Our panel members will be:
Rob Smuts, CAO
Kelly Murphy, Economic Development
A representative from the NHPD
Rena Leddy, Town Green SSD
Bitsie Clark, Board of Aldermen

We will be engaging our residents and business owners on the best way to move forward from the recent spat of problems in the downtown.

Please mark your calendars -

Best,

Doug Hausladen
Chairman
DWSCMT
http://groups.google.com/group/DWSCMT
twitter.com/dwscmt

posted by: davec on September 24, 2010 11:57am

I’m looking at the inflatable foam pit…then I’m looking at Andrews’ ski vest. Then I’m watching the girl smoking in the you tube video.

Then it finally dawns on me. This thing is all about sex. Why didn’t I see this before?

posted by: What??? on September 24, 2010 1:03pm

Don’t blame the SCSU students…they were proudly staggering around the streets and bars of Westville after the football game last night. What a win!!!

posted by: Doyens on September 24, 2010 1:35pm

One need only read this article and the profile of Static to see what the problems are. Let’s start drafting ordinances to control this behavior. Use this low rent club as the poster child for corrective action.

posted by: perplexed on September 25, 2010 12:42pm

It blows my mind that all those cops out on Thursday night only caught 2 kids for underage drinking. Walking back to my car parked on College by the Green from Prime 16 at 10:45 pm, I passed a total of half a dozen Quinnipiac freshmen girls puking drunk. Their fake IDs must’ve been really good, because there’s no way any of them were a day over 19, never mind 21. Two of the puking-drunk girls (one of whom was about to pass out on the sidewalk) were within view of a cop standing on the opposite corner who was very studiously not looking in their direction.

Quinnipiac and SCSU need to stop sending their party buses into downtown on the weekends. If they won’t do that, they need to do their own campus policing and make sure that no one under the age of 21 gets onto those buses, since clearly the New Haven police are looking the other way. That would go a long way toward cleaning up the downtown party scene.

posted by: k on September 26, 2010 7:02pm

@perplexed: a call to the NHPD for an unrelated issue reveals why you saw what you saw.

i was told upon reporting my issue that, despite the fact that the matter was a clear violation of a code whose enforcement is unambiguously crucial to public safety—and which, I might add, would never be tolerated in any REAL city in which i’ve lived…—you know what they said? i quote: “we try not to pick on people.”

WHAT?! if this is the NHPD’s idea of “picking on people” (i.e., enforcing the law when it is flagrantly and public violated regarding an unambiguous matter of public safety) then WHAT DO THEY THINK YOUR JOB IS?

do we need to explain the etymology of “public” and “servant” for it to get through? if you don’t respond to the needs of the community, then you aren’t “community policing” and if you aren’t “policing,” then, you are… not doing your job.

this puts the whole thing in perspective; no wonder nobody snitches.

posted by: hamma man on September 27, 2010 12:31pm

What was the issue you reported?

I agree that “we try not to pick on people” is a little perplexing, but I hope you’re not equating your matter of public safety with some drunk college girls throwing up by the side of the road.

Assuming they walk home or take the shuttle, who really cares? There are real criminals out there - like the shooter from this story - so I hardly think we should devote NHPD’s resources to cracking down on drunk college students.

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