Milford police: All suspects in beach brawl not from city; fights started over Bluetooth speaker

None of the suspects in the melee that marred Memorial Day at Walnut Beach are from Milford, according to police. They arrested three adults and five minors so far and said four more arrests, including two juveniles, are pending.

Marissa Alter

Jun 14, 2022, 9:59 PM

Updated 850 days ago

Share:

None of the suspects in the melee that marred Memorial Day at Walnut Beach are from Milford, according to police. They arrested three adults and five minors so far and said four more arrests, including two juveniles, are pending.
Jacob Calderon-Perez, 18, of Trumbull, is charged with larceny; Jasmin Bello, 18, of Stratford, is charged with breach of peace and assault; and Alexander Mitchell, 29, of Bethany, is charged with breach of peace.
Police posted videos and pictures of the brawl on social media to get help from the public identifying who was involved. Officers who tried to break up the violence were assaulted, and two had their body cameras stolen, according to police.
“Our school resource officers worked closely with school resource officers from other towns that were able to help us identify a lot of the people involved, and people were just sending us stuff they found on Facebook about the incident, which helped us piece together different parts of what happened that day,” said Patrolman 1st Class Marilisa Anania.
Anania also told News 12 the investigation found it all began because of an argument on the pier over a Bluetooth speaker.

“There was a male and his girlfriend trying to connect to a Bluetooth speaker that they believed was theirs because it looked just like theirs. And it turns out it belonged to someone else. Words were exchanged, and then a fight broke out between them, and then it kind of just spread through the pier,” Anania explained.

In response, the city put up a fence around the parking lot to ensure only one way in and out of the beach. Police said that has helped them monitor the crowd size and kept things calmer.
“I think it's wonderful. They should make it a permanent fence,” said Jim Piorkowski, of Milford. Piorkowski comes to the beach every day. He told News 12 he’s also noticed the stepped-up police presence since the fights, including with ATVs on the beach.
“On the weekends, there's police trucks. And they're going up and down the sand and everything, so they're doing a good job,” Piorkowsi said.
“There's a lot less people now after all the restrictions and everything,” said Olivia Coddington, of Milford. “More room on the beach for me.”
Tanner Gleason, who lives right by Walnut Beach, also applauded the changes. “The beach has been under control definitely. Last weekend I was here--super nice, people enjoying the beach. It's how it should be,” Gleason said.