Police arrested five people after an attempted break-in at Libby’s Motoworld in the Hill district on Tuesday morning Oct. 4.
In the early hours, New Haven Police Department Officer Steve McMorris responded to a burglar alarm that had been set off at the motorcycle shop, which is located roughly 2.5 miles from campus. Upon noticing an individual looking into the shop’s lot who did not comply with McMorris’ orders to stop, McMorris started chasing after him. Following a pursuit on foot, in which McMorris was joined by back-up officers, the five attempted burglars were apprehended. They have since been identified as four males between the ages of 19 and 22. One female, aged 17, was also arrested.
The five have since been charged with multiple crimes, including attempt to commit burglary and criminal trespass in the third degree.
In a release sent out by NHPD Media Liaison David Hartman, these events began at 2:57 a.m. Tuesday morning, when McMorris arrived at the shop. During the subsequent chase, two of the burglars jumping over a barbed wire fence before McMorris called back-up. As he did so, the policeman noticed a third suspect taking cover behind a business truck. This man also took off despite McMorris’ calls to stop, and McMorris ran in pursuit.
“The man ran down Printers Lane toward [Ella Grasso Boulevard] and into the waiting handcuffs of Officers Keron Bryce and Lindsey Jordan,” according to the press release.
Following that man’s capture, the police officers caught sight of another man and the female suspect running out from behind the shop. They were quickly apprehended and questioned. Found with blood on their hands, the duo claimed that the man had come to console her after a fight with her boyfriend, and he had been injured protecting her.
Subsequent questioning revealed that the two were involved in the burglary and their hands were likely cut from the barbed wire fence.
Another suspect was found and arrested while attempting to flee along the river bank behind Libby’s. According to the press release, his first words upon being arrested were, “I was only the driver.”
The final suspect was spotted lying within the West River near the shop. Following the officer’s orders, he walked along the bank and was arrested. He was later taken to the hospital to be assessed for hypothermia, before being declared healthy.
All five individuals arrested that morning have since been taken into custody and are awaiting trial for their charges.
After all the suspects were captured, George Libby, president of Libby’s Motoworld, was called onto the scene. The entire chase, as well as the failed burglary and resulting arrests, had been wrapped up by the time he arrived.
“The police came down, and they took care of everything quite fast,” said Libby.
According to Libby, there was minor damage to one of the shop’s doors that the burglars had try to pry open, but nothing was stolen.
Libby added that he has also upped security in recent years.
“This place is like Fort Knox,” he said. “We used to have more burglaries, but we’ve increased security so that they really can’t get in here anymore.”