James Manship Photo
Dirt biker charging at Father Manship’s car before allegedly spitting at him.
The last time Father James Manship whipped out his camera to capture wrongdoing, his video helped lead to a federal probe of mendacious East Haven cops who harassed immigrants.
Sunday Manship pulled out his camera again — and helped cops catch an allegedly out-of-control dirt-biker who harasses Fair Haveners.
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Manship (pictured at right), the priest at St. Rose of Lima Church, was on his way back from picking up a burrito from a new eatery at Ferry and Lombard (“Good food; I highly recommend it”) when he had to stop his car at the corner of Poplar and Saltonstall at around 4:30 p.m. Sunday. A dirt-biker was in the intersection “popping wheelies, spinning around,” Manship said.
Manship knew that dirt-bikers have been giving fits to neighbors and cops all over town with reckless driving.
He also remembered some personal advice from Sgt. Anthony Zona, until recently the head cop in Fair Haven, about how to deal with young people causing trouble: “If you get a picture, send it to us, so school resource officers can identify them.”
So Manship, who was wearing his clerical collar, took out his cellphone.
“Just as I was taking his picture [with the cellphone], he looked right at me,” Manship said. “That’s how I got his picture. He charged the car with the bike. I thought he was going to hit me. Instead, he came up — and spit right on me.”
“Did he just do what I think he just did?” Manship thought to himself. Meanwhile, the dirt-biker fled.
Manship forwarded the photos to Zona’s replacement as top Fair Haven cop, Sgt. Herb Johnson, who in turn distributed the photos to his beat cops. They recognized the 20-year-old man in the photos. They got an arrest warrant signed then tracked the man down at Criscuolo Park, where they arrested him. They charged him with threatening, breach of peace, reckless driving, and driving without a license. They also charged him similar offenses in connection with a separate April 7 incident. The man, who is on probation for burglary, posted a $30,000 bond and was released.
“I showed the picture to a couple of our folks [at the church]. They recognized the guy,” Manship said later. “These guys really are out of control. They can hurt other people. It depends on residents of the neighborhood to help the cops identify who these people are,” Manship said.
Back in 2009, Father Manship video-recorded an East Haven cop asking him why he was pointing a “camera” at him. The cop arrested Manship and confiscated the camera—claiming he thought Manship had pointed a “shiny object” at him. Manship was investigating wide-scale police harassment of Latino immigrants in East Haven; that incident sparked years of investigation and arrests and a shake-up of the department.
Scooter Rider Busted: Meanwhile, at Columbus and Washington avenues in the Hill Saturday afternoon police arrested a scooter rider who ended up having eight-balls of crack on him as well as a loaded .45 caliber pistol (loaded and cocked) with identifying marks scratched out. The scooter, too, was unregistered. He’d been driving recklessly, police said.
Man Allegedly Beats Girlfriend, Shoots Her Uncle: A 52-year-old man is in “critical bust stable” condition Monday after suffering a heart attack following a confrontation with a man who allegedly beat his niece.
The uncle went to Peck Street some time after midnight Monday morning after the niece reported that her 31-year-old boyfriend had assaulted her. The uncle confronted the man, who shot him in the groin and then fled in a grey Ford Escort wagon, according to police.
Police went looking for the boyfriend. Officer Gene Trotman spotted the car at Church and Chapel and stopped the car; the boyfriend was a passenger. Police arrested him and said they found him with a .9mm Springfield Armory XD pistol. The boyfriend, a convicted felon, was wanted for a parole violation and was being sought by the State Parole Division Fugitive Unit,” according to police spokesman Officer David Hartman.
Kudos to Father Jim. The dirt bikers and quad riders were out of control Sunday in my neighborhood; up and down the Boulevard all afternoon in large packs. They produce obnoxious noise and fumes and are dangerous. They define lawlessness. It is clear that the police cannot solve this problem alone. Community Policing is a two way street. The solution is to enforce a community standard and that can be done in conjunction with the police. The community needs to stand up and take Father Manship's kind of action. These kids (and not so kids) are intimidating-it takes courage to stand up to them. Father Manship admirably displayed it and its up to the rest of us to emulate him.