Thomas MacMIllan Photo
An AutoZone security guard moved closer to his dream of being a cop when he made his very first arrest — and received his first accusation of putting cuffs on the wrong guy.
James (pictured), a 25-year-old security guard who declined to give his last name, last week made a “civilian detention” of 20-year-old Ankoma Wells. James said he saw Ankoma and four other guys attacking a man outside the auto parts store where he keeps watch.
James held Wells for the cops, who arrested him on nine different charges, including robbery, assault, and larceny and held him on $25,000 bail.
Police said James is being considered for a commendation for his role in the arrest; Wells said he got the wrong guy. He said that he saw the assault and walked the other way, then found himself in handcuffs. Besides, he claimed, he’s too fat to have committed the crime.
“Knock It Off!”
On Tuesday, a week after he made the arrest, James showed up for his evening shift at AutoZone in the Stop & Shop Plaza on Whalley Avenue. For about a year, James has worked from 5 to 9 p.m. there as a supervisor for Aron Security.
The job is the latest of several that James has pursued to prepare himself for a career in law enforcement. He said he’s been a judicial marshal and worked security in malls, hospitals, and office buildings. He carries his own 9mm Glock on his hip, along with a baton, cuffs and OC pepper spray.
“I’ve always wanted to do something with law enforcement,” James said. He said he’s looking to get into a police academy and already speaks with the clipped formality of a cop giving a report.
Here’s what he said happened on March 26:
Just after 9 p.m., the shop was closing up. James looked out and “noticed a scuffle” in the parking lot, not far from where his white Chevy Impala was parked. “It was a five to one ratio,” he said. “Five kids on one kid.”
He saw the five guys kicking and punching. They threw a bike at the kid on the ground.
He told a clerk to call the police and opened the door to shout, “Hey! Knock it off!”
The five kids ran toward the corner of Whalley and Orchard streets. He saw one of the attackers, a “heavyset youth” in baggy jeans and an “orange-in-color hoodie,” head up Orchard toward Goffe Street.
James ran over and checked that the victim was OK. “I’m also an EMT,” James aid. The victim told him that the muggers had taken his cell phone.
James then jumped in his Impala. “I took off after the heavyset kid, who was lagging behind.”
James looped around on County Street and found his target walking at the corner of Orchard and Goffe streets.
“I let him know I was security,” James said. “I let him know I was making a civilian detention.”
The heavyset guy didn’t resist, but he did argue with James, who put him him handcuffs. The man questioned James’ authority to detain him. “He said I’m nobody.”
Within three or four minutes, the police arrived at the scene and took over. They arrested the man and thanked James, who later went to the police station and told cops what he’d seen.
“Physical Agility”
As James was recounting his story on Tuesday outside AutoZone, former Dixwell aldermanic candidate and Democratic Town Committee member Cordelia Thorpe (pictured) pulled up. She said she stops at AutoZone often because her silver 2001 Cadillac burns so much oil.
Thorpe disputed James’ story. She said her nephew, Ankoma Wells, was the man arrested, and she had bailed him out with $2,500.
Thorpe said she had spoken with victim of the mugging, who she claimed said Wells wasn’t involved.
However, reached by telephone, the man Thorpe named as the victim said he was the wrong guy, that he had been robbed later Tuesday evening at the liquor store nearby.
Thorpe said Wells couldn’t have been involved anyway since he weighs over 300 pounds. “To do that kind of crime, you’ve got to have physical agility,” Thorpe said. “He don’t fit the type.”
James said he is absolutely sure he saw Wells throwing punches. “I am 100 percent certain that that’s the individual,” James said. “If he’s not guilty, why would he run?”
“I Don’t Deserve That”
Facebook Photo
Wells (pictured) said he wasn’t running. “What am I going to run for? I’m lazy. I weigh 350. I ain’t gonna run for no reason.”
Some skinny guys wearing black jumped the victim, Wells said. “But a fat guy wearing orange goes to jail. I find that kind of shocking.”
Wells, who has the nickname “Chops,” said he recently returned from Maine, where he completed a Job Corps program in culinary training. He has no criminal record and said he’d never before been arrested.
Here’s what Wells said happened on March 26:
He was walking to his sister’s house on Day Street. He was about to cut through the Stop & Shop parking lot. At the gap in the fence by the bus shelter near the corner of Whalley and Orchard, Wells spotted several people beating someone up outside AutoZone.
“I was walking down the street and I seen them attacking the guy,” Wells said. “I turned around. I didn’t want to be a part of it.”
Wells said he started walking — not running — the other way. “I just walked away. If I would have did it, I would have run.” The muggers ran past him.
“I was on the corner of Goffe and Orchard when the security guard jumped out,” Wells said. “He told the police I was the first person to hit [the victim] and I led a big gang to do this, and that really wasn’t the case.”
Wells said he didn’t think he was going to get bailed out; he thought he might have to spend weeks in jail. “I went to jail. I really went to jail on Whalley Avenue,” he said. “It was crazy. I was in this big cell with a bunch of criminals talking about how they shot people.”
“I’m very confused. I don’t know how this is happening to me,” Wells said. “That was legit the first time I ever seen the inside of a cop car, the first time I’ve had handcuffs on me. I don’t deserve that.”
Wells is due in court on April 17 to answer to nine charges, including four felony charges.
"I've always wanted to do something with law enforcement," James said. He said he's looking to get into a police academy and already speaks with the clipped formality of a cop giving a report.
Sounds like a police buff.
The five kids ran toward the corner of Whalley and Orchard streets. He saw one of the attackers, a "heavyset youth" in baggy jeans and an "orange-in-color hoodie," head up Orchard toward Goffe Street.
James ran over and checked that the victim was OK. "I'm also an EMT," James aid. The victim told him that the muggers had taken his cell phone.
James then jumped in his Impala. "I took off after the heavyset kid, who was lagging behind."
James looped around on County Street and found his target walking at the corner of Orchard and Goffe streets.
"I let him know I was security," James said. "I let him know I was making a civilian detention
Hoodie? Sounds like New Haven could have had another Trayvon Martin.I think This guy is just a police buff and he did lock up the wrong person.