Warrant: Truck Driver Slammed Pedestrians

An early-morning brawl outside of an Annex restaurant led to a pickup truck slamming into two pedestrians — leaving both hospitalized with critical injuries, and the hit-and-run driver now arrested for assault with a motor vehicle.

That vehicular violence is described in detail in an arrest warrant affidavit written up by city police Det. Thomas Blaisdell on June 9 and made publicly available Tuesday.

The incident itself took place at around 1:50 a.m. on May 8 near the intersection of Farren Avenue and Fulton Street outside of Marisco’s Restaurant.

According to Blaisdell’s warrant, the early-morning scene was chaotic, with up to 20 people out on the street, one man allegedly swinging a baseball bat, and a pickup truck driver ultimately ramming into two pedestrians, leaving one lying unconscious in the middle of the street and another pinned under his truck’s front tire.

Police have charged the driver, a 25-year-old Fair Havener named Ferri Cotrina-Barrenechea, with two felony counts of first-degree assault with a motor vehicle and one count of evading responsibility.

The affidavit states that one of the pedestrian victims suffered a right leg fracture and two fractures to his spinal cord due to the crash. The other pedestrian victim suffered a liver laceration, colon laceration, wounds to his left leg, and a severely broken right leg that was later amputated due to the injuries.

“After an extensive investigation, Detective Blaisdell of the New Haven Police Department Major Crimes Unit, was able to secure and execute an arrest warrant for Cotrina-Barrenchea,” city police spokesperson Officer Scott Shumway wrote in an email press release sent out Tuesday afternoon. ​“The New Haven Police Department would like to acknowledge and thank members of the community for assisting in this investigation.”

According to the state court online database, Cotrina-Barrenchea is being detained on a $75,000 bond, and is next slated to appear in court on July 2. He was arrested on June 15, and has not yet entered a plea of guilty or innocent to the assault and evading responsibility charges.

One ​“Unconscious” In Intersection, Another ​“Pinned” Under Truck

Here’s what happened, according to Blaisdell’s June 9 affidavit.

On Saturday, May 8, at around 1:50 a.m., city patrol officers were dispatched to the intersection of Farren Avenue and Fulton Street for a report of a pedestrian struck.

Upon arrival, the officers found an individual lying on his back in the Farren-Fulton intersection.

He was ​“unconscious, not breathing and his eyes [were] wide open.” The officers then notified city police dispatch that the struck pedestrian needed immediate medical attention, and for American Medical Response (AMR) to respond with an ambulance as soon as possible.

Nearby, officers observed a burgundy Ford F150 pickup truck with heavy front end damage parked partially on the sidewalk on Farren Avenue.

Underneath the front of that pickup truck, police found a second pedestrian victim ​“pinned by the front driver side tire.” Officers let dispatch know that a second ambulance was needed, and that an individual was pinned beneath a truck.

Once AMR arrived on scene, Blaisdell wrote, emergency medical responders provided medical attention to the first struck pedestrian and immediately transported him to Yale New Haven Hospital with ​“possibly life threatening injuries.”

The AMR emergency responders also tried, and were largely unable, to provide medical attention to the man pinned under the truck. City firefighters who later arrived on scene were able to provide some medical attention to the man until a tow truck arrived to lift the Ford F150 off of him. A second ambulance then transported that second pedestrian victim to the hospital.

Witnesses: Argument Led To Car Attack

During the on-scene investigation, officers spoke to a witness, who said that he observed the pickup truck driver having an argument with the two pedestrian victims while standing outside of the Ford F150.

The witness said the argument took place outside of Marisco’s Restaurant.

Once the three men stopped arguing, the witness said, the driver entered the pickup truck and drove north on Farren Avenue.

He said the Ford F150 then turned around and headed back south on Farren Avenue. The two pedestrian victims were standing outside of the driver’s side of a grey BMW, he said.

One man was attempting to enter the vehicle when ​“the Ford F150 struck both victims,” sending the first pedestrian ​“airborne and landed in the middle of the intersection.” The second man was then ​“struck and pinned underneath the vehicle, which came to a stop” on the sidewalk of Farren Avenue.

The witness told the police that the driver then exited the vehicle and ran west on Fulton Street, then turned north on Fairmont Avenue.

Police also spoke that night with a married couple who live in a third-floor apartment near where the incident took place. The couple said they were asleep and woke up to a loud ​“bang.”

From their bedroom window, they saw a pickup truck crashed against the side of a parked BMW on Farren Avenue. Both then observed several individuals in the roadway surround the truck, include one individual holding a baseball bat.

According to the couple, that man struck the driver of the truck with the bat.

The driver of the truck then reversed his vehicle, struck the BMW for a second time, and fled the area.

The couple told the police they believed the driver of the truck was the original operator of the vehicle, and that no one else had entered the truck.

They said they then went back to bed and, minutes later, they heard another ​“loud bang and observed the truck crashed into the BMW and was parked up against a pole on Farren Avenue.”

Cotrina-Barrenechea: Assailants Swarmed His Vehicle First

Later that same night, patrol officers located Cotrina-Barrenechea, who matched the description provided by the witness. He was sitting on the Ferry Street Bridge.

Cotrina-Barrenechea ​“immediately stated to officers that he was driving the pickup truck and ​‘crashed into the guys’ because they tried to ​‘jump him.’”

The driver appeared to have facial injuries to the top of his mouth, a bloodied nose, and blood on his hands, Blaisdell wrote. AMR was dispatched and the driver was examined on scene. Police gave the driver a field sobriety test, which he passed.

Police then read him his Miranda Rights on scene. The driver waived his rights, and told the police his side of the story.

Cotrina-Barrenechea said he had been traveling through the intersection of Farren Avenue and Fulton Street. The cars in front of him weren’t moving at the green light, so he started honking his horn.

The driver said that roughly 10 individuals then began ​“swarming his vehicle.” One man opened the driver’s side door holding a baseball bat, the driver told the police.

“He believed the individual struck him with the bat. At that time, he was pushed to the middle seat of the truck and the male then entered the driver’s seat of the vehicle; the male then took control of the vehicle. He stated that he fought with the male for approximately one minute as the male was driving, they then crashed.”

The officers asked the driver where they drove during that one-minute fight in the car. He said he didn’t know.

Cotrina-Barrenechea then told the police that, after the crash, the unknown male exited the driver’s side of the pickup truck, and that he too exited the driver’s side of the vehicle. He didn’t know where that alleged assailant went.

And when officers asked the driver why his vehicle was facing southbound on Farren Avenue after the collision when he had told the police that he was traveling northbound, the driver again stated that he did not know.

After the investigation, police released the driver.

Video: Baseball Bat, Car Strike, Two Pedestrians Hurt

During his investigation into the case, Blaisdell reviewed surveillance camera footage from Marisco’s Restaurant at 101 Farren Ave.

The video footage showed that, at approximately 1:43 a.m., a Ford F150 pickup truck was traveling south on Farren Avenue and stopped in front of the restaurant. The vehicle had a ​“distinct tool chest positioned in the bed of the truck,” Blaisdell wrote.

Shortly thereafter, the pickup truck appeared to veer off to the left hand side of the street toward several parked vehicles along Farren Avenue.

“An unidentified individual then jogged to a vehicle that was parked on Farren Avenue, opened the trunk and retrieved what appeared to be a baseball bat.”

A second unidentified man went to a second vehicle parked on the opposite side of Farren and opened the trunk, though the video footage did not show what he retrieved from his car.

“The individual with the bat then began striking the F150 while several other individuals surrounded it. The F150 then drove forward and collided with the BMW 325xi and continued north down Farren Avenue. It collided with the BMW 325xi again and also struck both” pedestrian victims. The first was sent airborne and landed in the middle of the intersection.

“It was unclear if [the two pedestrian victims] were involved in the initial altercation in the street,” Blaisdell wrote.

First Witness: Driver Fled After Strike

Blaisdell and fellow city Det. Rivera later went back to Farren Avenue to interview for a second time the first witness officers spoke to the night of the crash.

That witness said he lives nearby, and has a view of Marisco’s Restaurant from his apartment window.

The witness said he heard arguing on the street and walked outside. Outside, he observed roughly 15 to 20 people arguing and a pickup truck on Farren Avenue, facing northbound.

The witness said he believed individuals in the street were arguing with the driver of the pickup truck, potentially ​“in regards to a female,” but the argument was in Spanish and the witness did not wholly comprehend.

Roughly five minutes later, the witness saw the same pickup truck traveling southbound on Farren Avenue, struck one individual who was attempting to enter his vehicle, and then struck another individual, trapping that victim underneath the truck.

The driver of the truck exited the vehicle, ​“appeared nervous and attempted to enter the truck again,” the witness said. Bystanders told the driver not to leave the scene, but he fled on foot west on Fulton Street.

The witness said he did not observe anyone assault the pickup truck driver, ​“however, bystanders were trying to keep him from fleeing.”

The witness also said that he did not believe that the driver was purposely trying to strike the two pedestrians who were hit; ​“however, he believed he was trying to strike other individuals.”

A city detective and an ATF task force officer conducted a photo array with this first witness, where they showed him a photograph of the pickup truck driver and seven other similar looking men. The witness wound up picking a different man from the photo lineup, though he said he couldn’t ​“give you 100 percent because his hair was different but it might be him.”

At Police HQ: ​“Individuals Were Trying To Attack”

On May 17, Cotrina-Barrenechea came to police headquarters at 1 Union Ave. for an in-person interview about the incident.

During this interview, the driver said he was traveling north on Farren Avenue at the intersection of Fulton Street on his way home to Fair Haven.

When the traffic light turned green, the vehicles in front of him didn’t move, and so he started honking his horn, the driver said.

At that time, several individuals approached his truck. One of those men opened his driver’s side door and ​“put a baseball bat to his neck,” he told police. He said he believed that man with the baseball bat was trying to steal his truck.

Cotrina-Barrenechea said he then attempted to reverse his vehicle, and ultimately crashed his truck, exited his vehicle, and noticed a man lying in the middle of the street.

He said he left the scene because ​“individuals were trying to attack him.” He said he fled on foot towards Fairmont Avenue. He said he didn’t call 911 because his cellphone was in the truck.

Blaisdell then showed the driver a picture of his truck taken after the crash. It showed the vehicle facing south, rather than north, on Farren Avenue.

The driver replied that he must have left the argument and then came back to the intersection.

“You came back,” the detective said.

“Yeah,” the driver replied.

Cotrina-Barrenechea said he returned to the intersection after he initially left the group that had attacked him ​“however, [he] could not remember why he returned back.”

The driver said he may have driven north on Farren Avenue to get onto the highway. He then immediately stated, ​“That wouldn’t make sense.”

He told police that he had had one beer during the evening prior to the crash, but that he was not intoxicated.

In this second interview with the police, the driver did not mention that any man entered his vehicle and took control of it, as he had said during an interview the night of.

On June 1, Blaisdell went to the Fair Haven home of Cotrina-Barrenechea for a follow-up interview.

A family member of the driver told the detective that the driver had obtained legal representation and no longer wanted to speak with detectives.

Also during the investigation, Blaisdell spoke with the first pedestrian victim at Yale New Haven Hospital. That man said he was inside Marisco’s Restaurant, walked outside, and was struck by a vehicle. He said he did not remember anything after the crash, and he did not know who the driver of the vehicle was.

The second pedestrian victim also told the city detective that he had been inside of Marisco’s Restaurant prior to the crash. He said he did not remember anything else leading up to or after the crash. He said he didn’t believe he had been arguing with anyone prior to the crash.

The affidavit ends with Blaisdell stating his belief that probable cause exists to charge the driver with the following crimes: two counts of Assault 1st Degree with a motor vehicle in violation of C.G.S. 53a-59 and Evading Responsibility C.G.S. 14 – 224(b)(1).