Cops Deliver Turkeys, Then Join Chase & Make Arrests

Police officers in the midst of serving turkeys to hungry families ended up helping make arrests in the latest incident involving teens, stolen cars, and guns.

The incident began around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Hill.

Here’s what happened, according to Asst. Police Chief Renee Dominguez:

An extra-duty officer saw gunfire exchanged between occupants of two cars traveling on Congress Avenue. He called it in.

Officer Alex Rivera spotted the license plate of one of the fleeing vehicles, a black Honda.

Soon after that, the driver of the Honda crashed into … a police car. The officer inside, John Barbetti, was ​“a little banged up” but not in need of going to the hospital, according to Dominguez. His patrol car, on the other hand, was ​“severely damaged.”

The driver of the Honda hopped out and then ran into a silver Mercedes whose driver was waiting nearby. They ran off.

Other officers followed the Mercedes into the West River neighborhood.

At the time, Dominguez herself happened to be nearby, along with Police Chief Otoniel Reyes, Asst. Chief Herb Sharp, and Officers Jason Jackson and Christopher Cacela. They were in the midst of visiting homes in each of the city’s 10 policing zones to deliver Thanksgiving turkeys and fixings to needy families identified by district managers. They joined the pursuit of the Mercedes.

The Mercedes driver headed toward Mead Street and Judson Avenue, near Barnard School.

The driver turned onto Mead. A woman with two children in her car was also turning onto Mead. The Mercedes driver crashed into her vehicle. (An ambulance crew checked out the family as a precaution, but they didn’t need to go to the hospital, according to Dominguez.)

The police were able to stop the silver Mercedes. Five teens exited the vehicle and started running.

A group of officers— including Jackson, Cacela, Chief Reyes, Scott Shumway, Robert Hayden, Esau Ramirez — ran after them. They caught up with all five teens and arrested them.

No one was injured, according to Dominguez.

At this point, the teens are being charged with third-degree larceny (because of the stolen vehicle) and interfering with police. They range in age from 14 to 17 years old. They did not have weapons on them when they were caught.

The investigation into the incident is continuing.

Volatile Mix

This is the latest of a series of incidents in town involving teens, stolen cars, and handguns.

This past Friday, for instance, officers in West River came upon a stolen car with three teens sleeping inside. Two of them had handguns. (One of them pointed the gun at the cops before dropping it.) Read more about that incident here.

A group of teens driving a stolen car stopped a man on Crown Street around 11 p.m. on a recent Friday night and allegedly sought to steal his car. The man had a licensed firearm on him — and shot one of the teens, who was holding a weapon as well. The teen was hit in the face, stomach and lower body. Several of his teeth fell to the ground. He dropped his gun; cops arrived on the scene, and he was taken to the hospital. He remains there, reported to be in stable condition while continuing to be operated on.

“Youngsters in broad daylight shooting at each other from stolen cars — this is a major issue” that not just New Haven, but Hartford and other cities are wrestling with, Chief Reyes said later on Tuesday. ​“We’re concerned about the increase in juvenile-related incidents, particularly with stolen vehicles and guns and robberies.”