Paul Bass Photo
After a birthday party spilled out into a melee on downtown streets, organizers and cops blamed each other — then worked out a way to avoid trouble in the future.
Cops and representatives of a private party space at LoRicco Towers on Crown Street met Wednesday at the downtown police substation to set up a formal process for preparing for teen parties that take place downtown.
The meeting followed an event that spun out of control last Saturday night.
Birthday Celebration
A city street outreach worker, Pepe Vega, had booked a second-floor space at LoRicco from Hashim Allah, who works with young people through an agency called Hallah Edutainment. Vega’s son was celebrating his 18th birthday. Some 100 16 – 18 year-olds received invitations to a private party, which was scheduled to run from 8 p.m. to midnight.
Vega, who was responsible for security, said he brought along three other street outreach workers, who seek to stem city violence by developing close contacts with gang members, as well as four or five other “big guys” to serve as bouncers.
About halfway through the party, Vega recalled in an interview at the space Thursday, “something told me to go downstairs. I go downstairs. There are 10 guys out there. They’re looking up at the window. They’re saying, ‘We’re going to do this and that when the party’s over.’ They’re waiting for the let-out.”
Later police would learn that members of the Hill-based Slut Wave, a fast-growing youth gang, had learned about the party over social media. Insulted that they weren’t invited, they planned to make a scene.
Vega asked the visitors to leave the area; he feared a confrontation. The young men complied — a little bit. They moved partway up the block. And stayed there.
It turned out many more of them were present around the block.
Usually street outreach workers don’t call the police for help. They need to maintain the trust of gang members.
In this case, Vega said, he decided to call for cops. He needed help in getting the gang members to leave the area. He planned to wait for that to happen, then shut the party down early so guests could get home safely.
Four officers arrived on the scene. Vega met with them.
“We cool upstairs,” he recalled telling them. “I called you so nothing happens when the party’s over.”
Vega said the officer kept asking questions about who arranged for the party, rather than dealing with the Slut Wavers. “He kept asking, ‘Who rented’” the space?
The officer went upstairs and shut down the party, ordering everyone to leave.
When people did leave, suddenly some 200 teens were out on Crown Street. Fights broke out. Cops called for back-up.
Sgt. Sam Brown said the scene was out of control when he and other back-up officers arrived. It took them a while to contain the scene and get some of the brawlers to leave via College Street, others via Temple Street. He said he learned later that a Slut Wave member had remarked, upon learning of the private party, ‘“We’re not having that over here” — even though Crown Street’s “not even the Hill,” where the gang is based.
In the end no serious injuries were reported. Two 19-year-old women were arrested after one of them took a swing at a cop, according to Lt. Jeff Hoffman.
The Aftermath
Come Monday, city youth services chief Jason Bartlett started hearing from people with whom his agency does business — the street outreach workers, Allah — that they were upset with how the police handled the matter. Meanwhile the police were upset, they said, that the party organizers had failed to notify them of the event in advance.
Allah (pictured) said he did in fact tell downtown District Manager Sgt. Tammi Means about the party in advance. He acknowledged, though, that he had mentioned it while she was in the midst of handling an unrelated major incident (this bank robbery).
The outreach workers “felt like they weren’t being heard” by the police when they arrived at the scene, said Shirley Ellis-West, who runs the program out of the New Haven Family Alliance.
“If they would have did what we asked them and got rid of those guys first, none of this would have happened,” Vega said. “He made all the kids up there mingle with the Slut Wave!”
“When police come out to the scene they have an obligation to investigate the full scope,” not just speak with one complainant, Lt. Hoffman responded. “Police are going to make their own decisions based on the totality of the situation.”
Lt. Hoffman said the fault for Saturday night’s melee lay in the party organizers not fully informing police in advance of the party. “They clearly did not have appreciation of the volatility of having teen parties” right at “ground zero” of the raucous Crown Street adult-drinking district.
“A number of people came to me because they were upset about what occurred. People reached out to me because they were concerned about the party and also the police response for Saturday,” said City Hall’s Bartlett. “So I thought it was best to bring everyone together to talk about what had happened and to come up with a constructive plan for how to deal with any activities on that property going forward.”
That plan emerged from Wednesday’s meeting at the downtown substation, attended by top cops, representatives of LoRicco Towers, and Allah, who plans to hold more events for young people in the space.
He agreed to follow a formal notification process for future events. He will email Lt. Hoffman with details. The cops also gained a promise to hire cops for extra security.
“People are all for teen events and giving kids things to do,” Hoffman said. “They now have a better understanding” of what needs to happen to keep such events safe.
I used to really like Lt. Hoffman in district 9, now I'm not so sure who he is working for. There was no reason to place the blame on the party organizers for this, this is not how it should work Jeff.