nothin Street Brawl Leads To Year’s 21st Homicide | New Haven Independent

Street Brawl Leads To Year’s 21st Homicide

A 16-year-old boy died Thursday from wounds suffered in a shooting after a fight about a girl. Then his family clashed with Yale cops at the hospital.

The shooting occurred Wednesday around 9:20 p.m. at George and Day streets.

A fight broke out in the street, involving around 15 people, according to Assistant Police Chief John Velleca. He said the fight started over a girl.”

Two people involved in the fight pulled out guns and started shooting. The victim was hit. He was not one of the people shooting, Velleca said.

One person present described a scene of chaos.” A cop had been around the corner when the shooting started; after he and others arrived, a few brawl participants fled. But others remained on the street, some calling to the dead body lying face down in the middle of Day Street: Sean, wake up! Sean get up!”

It was like a protective force field of people not wanting to go near [the body]. Some girls were sitting on the curb directly across from the body. It shocked the consciousness of people.”

The victim was pronounced dead Thursday morning at the Hospital of St. Raphael. He is the city’s 21st homicide victim of the year. He was black, like all but two others on the list.

Thursday afternoon the hospital was still running blood through [his] organs” in preparation for an organ donation, Velleca said. (That was the reason that earlier reports incorrectly had the victim remaining on life support.”)

Police have already interviewed participants in the fight and have identified suspects, Velleca said. We’re well on the way to identifying most of the people involved in the fight.” 

Police are not yet releasing the victim’s name.

Brawl #2

Meanwhile, a city street outreach worker, Doug Bethea, raised questions about how Yale police handled what turned into a melee at the hospital Wednesday night.

The victim’s family was there trying to see him. A big crowd gathered.

City police called for back-up. Among those responding were at least two Yale cops.

City police officers handled the tense exchange well but Yale police escalated the situation, Bethea claimed.

They were insensitive to what was going on. They were insensitive to people mourning,” Bethea said. They wanted to check in on his brother. They would not let [people] in. They grabbed [a relative], and people just started coming around. They called for more cops.”

According to another account, a Yale cop clashed with the victim’s aunt when a large crowd called for allowing her and the victim’s mother through. The aunt and a Yale cop fought.

Pushing and grabbing ensued. Bethea said he and others managed to calm people down and defuse the situation; but Yale police did arrest a female relative of the victim for interfering, Bethea said.

Dwight Alderman Greg Smith rushed to the scene when I saw the commotion.”

He said he saw an altercation” between a female Yale cop and female relative. I don’t know how it initially started.”

Yale spokesman Robin Hogen said Yale cops responded to city cops’ call for back-up at the hospital. He said a Yale officer ” was injured as she attempted to keep the crowd from entering the ER, which led to a civilian arrest.”

Here’s how St. Raphael’s security operations manager, Tony Correia, described what happened: Saint Raphael’s could only let members of the immediate family into the hospital due to the late hour. It was an emotional situation and people were upset but our security staff and law enforcement officers were able to ensure safety and access to the hospital for immediate family members.”

Bethea described the victim, whom he knew, as a good kid” who played on a traveling basketball team associated with the Amateur Athletic Union.

Sign up for our morning newsletter

Don't want to miss a single Independent article? Sign up for our daily email newsletter! Click here for more info.


Post a Comment

Commenting has closed for this entry

Comments

Avatar for JonDoeInNH

Avatar for Blue

Avatar for anonymous

Avatar for Insider98

Avatar for ray vera

Avatar for Anon@nowhere.net

Avatar for Christopher Schaefer

Avatar for anonymous

Avatar for NH Resident

Avatar for Tatiana

Avatar for Salty

Avatar for See123

Avatar for The mad rapper

Avatar for Edward_H

Avatar for A Mother

Avatar for One City Dump

Avatar for To anon

Avatar for SHOCKED AND APPALLED