Contributed photo
Broken windows at City Hall Tuesday.
Thomas Breen photo
Mayor Elicker (center) with Sgt. Shumway and Chief Jacobson: This is the third time in less than two years this same man has broken City Hall windows.
City police have arrested a 42-year-old man for throwing rocks and breaking four windows on the second floor of City Hall.
City spokesperson Officer Christian Bruckhart said that, at around 6:44 a.m. Tuesday, city police officers responded to City Hall “on the report of a male throwing rocks at the city hall building windows.”
Officers detained a 42-year-old New Havener, and found he caused $1,500 in damages to the windows.
“He made rambling and incoherent statements to officers, telling them among other things that he was dealing with ‘hazing’ from the community,” Bruckhart wrote.
He was charged with first-degree criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. State court records show that he hasn’t yet entered a plea on either of those charges, and that he was released from custody on a promise to appear.
Mayor Justin Elicker said that this is the third time this same man has thrown objects at and broken windows at City Hall.
He said that the first incident took place more than a year ago, when the man threw “projectiles” at and broke a ground-floor window for the Youth and Rec department’s office.
He said the second incident saw him throw projectiles and break a second-floor window for the chief of staff’s office.
And the third time, early Tuesday morning, saw him throw projectiles from outside City Hall’s Church Street entrance and successfully break four windows in the mayor’s second-floor office.
The mayor said he was not in the office at the time, and that fortunately no one was hurt.
Elicker and Police Chief Karl Jacobson both said they do not believe these three different window-breakings by the same man have been politically motivated.
Elicker said that the city now needs to replace the broken windows, which are currently boarded up.
State court records show that this same man pleaded guilty in July 2024 to a first-degree criminal mischief charge stemming from an October 2023 arrest in New Haven. He also pleaded guilty in April 2023 to a second-degree criminal mischief charge stemming from a January 2023 arrest. And he pleaded guilty in July 2019 to a third-degree criminal mischief charge stemming from a May 2019 arrest.
Two of the four boarded-up windows above City Hall's front entrance, as seen on Wednesday morning.