In The Lock-Up, A ​“Violent Struggle”

Police said a 36-year-old Branford man accused by police on Saturday of using a baseball bat to violently attack an old family friend and a former Branford cop inside his home, turned violent again in the lock-up over the weekend.

Police said he ripped off his paper prison suit and physically removed his colostomy bag, exposing a small portion of his large intestine. Police found him naked and bleeding in his cell on Sunday. He turned violent when they wanted paramedics to take him to the hospital, they reported. 

The man, Neil Amendola of 6 Patrick Lane, told police he would not go to the hospital to have his wounds cleaned and to get a fresh colostomy bag, according to a police report on file at Superior Court in New Haven. Amendola said he wanted to stay in his cell. When one of the officers grabbed his left arm to lead him to Branford paramedics, the report stated, he suddenly became enraged, screaming ​“No!”
 
A ​“violent struggle quickly ensued” as three police officers tried to control Amendola’s arms, body and head, according to the report. Amendola allegedly refused to put his arms behind his back and continued fighting. At that point, one of the officers tased him twice in the back with a stun gun. He was then placed in handcuffs and leg shackles, both of which were double-locked.
 
The report was filed in Superior Court Monday when Amendola was arraigned before Superior Court Judge Bruce Thompson. He is charged with intentionally assaulting William Stewart, 58, who was once the partner of Branford Police Chief John DeCarlo when both were young cops starting out in the 1970s. Stewart left the department after four years. 
 
Amendola was arraigned on a charge of assault in the first degree, a class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Police said he struck Stewart ​“numerous times in the head and body.” He was also charged with interfering with a police officer after the altercation in the lock-up took place. 

Amendola arrived Monday at Superior Court, part B, on Elm Street in New Haven, wearing a paper white prison suit, his arms cuffed and his legs in chains. He did not speak during his five-minute arraignment, which took place at noon. Nor did he seem able to make eye contact with any one particular person. At one point Amendola, who is a small man, turned to look at other suspects, all in handcuffs and seated in the front row. But largely his demeanor resembled the description one of the police officers gave of his ambulance ride with Amendola to Yale- New Haven Hospital Sunday: ​“He simply stared straight ahead and did not speak.”

During his arraignment, Michael Dolan, a criminal attorney from Hamden hired by Amendola’s family, told the judge: ​“I am having trouble communicating with my client.” Dolan asked the judge for a psychiatric examination of his client, adding that at this point he was not prepared to make bond. Judge Thompson continued bond at $500,000 and set April 19 for Amendola’s next court date. By that time, a psychiatric evaluation should be completed. After his arraignment he was transported to a prison facility and put on suicide watch. 
 
What happened to provoke the violent attack on Stewart is known to only three people, according to police: Carol Amendola, who was a witness to the events and is not talking to police; her son, who is not talking to police; and Stewart, who cannot speak. He is in critical condition at Yale-New Haven Hospital where he is fighting for his life. He sustained severe blows to his head and his body. Stewart’s wife, Leslie, is expected to be questioned by police at some point about what she knew of the situation at the Amendola home and what was said during the telephone call. 

As police begin to piece together the case, they theorize that Carol Amendola, or perhaps Neil Amendola himself, called Leslie Stewart, one of Carol’s closest friends, seeking help. Carol Amendola retired as a Branford school teacher at the John B. Sliny Elementary School last year. Stewart is still working at the school. The presumption is that Leslie Stewart asked her husband to go to the Amendola home.

It is not yet known whether Stewart was summoned to help fix their family’s garage door, which police theorize Neil Amendola broke the night before when he backed out without first opening the door, or whether Stewart was summoned because Neil Amendola was having problems.
 
Bill Stewart arrived at the Amendola house sometime Saturday morning. Police were summoned to the white colonial home on a quiet cul-de-sac off Damascas road shortly after 11:20 a.m.. They were responding to ​“a complaint of a disturbance.” At the time, Capt. Kevin Halloran said, ​“We do know that Stewart is a family friend and that he went to Amendola’s residence to fix the garage door. The investigation is continuing.”

What led Neil Amendola allegedly to engage in a series of violent acts, perhaps beginning with breaking the garage door in half, is not known. Police have not said if Amendola was taking prescription or other types of drugs or whether he suffered from any previous mental illness.

The state police found blood inside the home in two first floor rooms, a living room and what is believed to be a family room. Deputy Police Chief Tom Fowler said Saturday that when police arrived at the house the front door was open. Police believe Stewart may have been trying to escape the blows from Amendola’s baseball bat when he collapsed near the front door. Police arrested Amendola at the scene.

Police believe, but have yet to confirm, that the events leading to the violent encounter with Bill Stewart may have been brewing long before the garage door crash. So far they have not disclosed either man’s current occupation. 

The garage door, dented in the back, was open at an odd angle when Stewart arrived Saturday to see how he could help the family. Next to the Toyota was a Saab, both visible from the street. The garage remains broken. 

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