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.