9 Months, 176 Calls

Back on Sept.4, Police Officer Joseph Peterson was attacked by a 39-year-old Bridgeport man in the parking area of the Branford Motel at 470 East Main St. Police say the man attacked Officer Peterson as he was inspecting a suspicious jeep in the lot. The time was 3:30 a.m. 
 
Police arrested Leonardo Finelli, a guest at the motel, after he allegedly grabbed Peterson around the waist, tried to push his way into Peterson’s police car and attempted to take his gun. The driver of the jeep, who was not identified, came to the officer’s aid as backup was summoned, they said. Police believe Finelli was under the influence of PCP at the time of the assault. Finelli was charged with a variety of crimes, including attacking a police officer.

On Oct. 3, a month later, Officer Peterson, back on the overnight shift, found himself again at the Branford Motel. On that date he and Officer Luigi Amasino arrested Ezel Buchanan, 33, of New Haven, for a motor vehicle violation. The time was just after 2:20 a.m., and the place was the parking lot of the motel at 470 East Main St.

As a result of the stop, and their subsequent investigation, Officers Peterson and Amassing located 30 small individually packaged bags of crack cocaine, $220 in cash consisting of $5, $10 and $20 denominations, two cell phones. Buchanan was charged with possession of crack cocaine with intent to sell and operating without a driver’s license.

The cops know the 470 East Main St. address by heart. 

According to statistics obtained by the Eagle, since Jan 1, 2011, about nine months ago, there have been 176 calls for service from the Branford Motel to the police, fire or emergency services in town. Primarily these have been police calls, Capt. Geoffrey Morgan said. That means the police have gone to the Branford Motel an average of 19 times each month.

The arrests at the Branford Motel range from drug arrests to burglaries to prostitution to fights to medical calls. The Branford Motel’s 176 calls for service over the last nine months are considered very high, compared to 72 calls for services at Motel Six, 320 East Main St., and 21 calls for service at the Holiday Inn Express at 309 E. Main. 

“That area of town, more specifically, that address remains a hot spot for motor vehicle and criminal activity,” Chief Halloran said in a press release on the Buchanan case. ​“Based on the hot spot, supervisors have and will continue to deploy officers into the area as part of our predictive policing initiative to anticipate and prevent crime.”

Chief Halloran added in a subsequent interview that ​“sometimes checking out a vehicle can lead the police to run into criminal activity.” He said this area is not the only place in town where police go. ​“We focus on criminal activity throughout town.” 

Sometimes the activity at the Branford Motel takes unique turns.

Nearly two years ago, in December 2009, Officer Peterson, along with Officers Gregory Watrous and Officer Phil Ramey were in the vicinity early one morning as part of a program to curb burglaries and thefts from vehicles, when they located an ice cooler filled with eight recently born puppies on East Main Street. They came to be known as the Christmas Eve puppies. The man who discarded them was living at the Branford Motel.

The owner of the Branford Motel is Jay Patel, who also owns scores of other hotels and motels in the northeast. He and his son Kuntal Patel are partners in R.K. Construction Co., whose address is 470 East Main St.. The offices are in a separate building at the Branford Motel site. Reached today for comment about the ongoing crime problem at his motel, Patel said: ​“I don’t have a comment.” 

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