A woman and her two accomplices made off with a pizza deliverer’s car and wallet — and pizza box — but not for long.
Police ended up catching up with two members of the alleged hold-up trio and arresting them, in an incident that began Monday at 1:13 a.m.
Here’s police spokesman Officer David Hartman’s version of what happened:
A 36-year-old delivery man for Alpha Delta Pizza said he drove a 2006 Nissan Maxima to Foote Street to deliver a pie. He “got out of his car … and looked around for his customer. He thought he spotted her across the street [and] walked toward her.
“As he got closer, he eyed two men walking toward him from Ashmun Street. One of the men had his face partially covered by a hooded sweatshirt. The men split up, one continuing toward him, the other, continuing on Ashmun.”
The delivery man “suspected he was being set-up. He was right. As [he] hastened to his car, the approaching man pulled a pistol and ran at him. He knocked the bag of food from his hand and ordered him across the street where his female accomplice waited. The crooks demanded the deliveryman’s cash. He emptied his pockets of the two hundred dollars he had on him and complied as the robbers ordered him to lie on the ground.” The man wasn’t harmed.
The woman got behind the wheel of the Nissan. “Her partner in crime ran to the car, stopping briefly to retrieve the bag of food. The two sped off toward Canal Street.”
Several pursuits ensued, the first just after 3 a.m. It “traversed several towns from New Haven, south on the interstate toward Milford, then back into New Haven via the Boston Post Road. Traffic was light and the pursuit continued until it approached New Haven’s Fair Haven neighborhood. Officers discontinued the chase but searched the area.
“A second sighting sparked the second pursuit –- again south on the interstate but only making it off exit 43 into West Haven. The car was soon found, parked in a lot at 782 First Ave. in West Haven. Officers from several jurisdictions, including West Haven and the state police, flooded the area, searching for the armed pair.
“The car still had the pizza box and, surprisingly, the victim’s wallet. Within a short time,” cops caught the woman, a 37-year-old New Havener with a history of thefts and other larcenies. “She had the Nissan’s keys in her purse.”
As the victim identified the woman, cops chased one of her alleged conspirators, a 26-year-old West Haven man with six robbery convictions, through rear yards. They caught him. The pair were charged with numerous larceny, robbery and interfering charges.
