Police and firefighters rescued a woman after she jumped into the Quinnipiac River to escape an attacker who ordered her to take her clothes off at gunpoint.
The rescue unfolded Wednesday night in Fair Haven, according to police, who took the man into custody.
Here’s what happened, according to police spokesman Officer Dave Hartman:
At 9:44 p.m., police responded to Front Street near the Ferry Street bridge on reports of a woman screaming. Police found a pregnant woman in the water and got her to safety with the help of a nearby kayaker. She told police she had been behind her apartment nearby when a man with a shotgun approached her and demanded that she disrobe. When the man slipped and fell, the woman tried to flee. He got up, she grabbed his gun and struggled with him. He got his gun back and hit her with it. She ran and jumped in the river. He dove in after her. She swam away and yelled for help.
Even as she was telling police what happened, cops found the man she had described. He was still in the river, clinging to a wall. The woman ID’d the 31-year-old man, whom police arrested on eight different charges including gun charges and attempted sexual assault. Both he and the victim were taken to the Hospital of St. Raphael for treatment.
In other police news, according to Hartman:
A tattoo artist was stabbed Wednesday by a man unhappy with his girlfriend’s new body art. Officer Samson Reed is investigating the incident, which occurred at Columbus Avenue and Cedar Street in the Hill at 1:19 p.m. The victim said he was confronted by a man. He said he doesn’t know the man personally, but he’s done tattoo work for his girlfriend. “The victim said the man stabbed him several times because the tattoo was no good,” Hartman said. The attacker then fled on a city bus. The victim was treated at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
At 4:21 a.m. Thursday, a man waved down an officer on Sherman Parkway near Hillhouse High. He told a cop he had pulled over to use his GPS, since he was lost. A man got in his car and demanded that he perform a sex act. The driver refused and told the man to get out. The man got out, walked around to the other side of the car, opened the door and took the victim’s MacBook computer. The victim then chased the man while phoning police. The thief told the victim to stop following him and attacked him with an umbrella. The thief also pulled a knife, but didn’t use it. The victim was uninjured. Police were unable to find the thief.
Food Stamp Fraud Earns 15 Months
After defrauding the Food Stamp Program of $94,049.59 through his Ferry Street convenience store, a 56-year-old East Haven man was sentenced to 15 months. Talib Jawad Kadhim received that sentence Wednesday in Hartford federal court, according to the Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s office.
Kadhim pleaded guilty to one count of food stamp fraud in December, 2010. Mari Mart, the store he ran, has been under new ownership since mid 2009.
Crime Map
Click here for a list of major crimes for Oct. 12. Click on the image below to see those incidents placed on a citywide map.
NHPD
For block-by-block year-to-date crime information, plus daily crime maps, check out the Independent’s Crime Log.
