Two men charged in pistol-whipping
By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
May 31, 2008
GUILFORD — Two New Haven men pistol-whipped a Guilford resident and ran into the woods in an effort to escape officers Thursday night before being caught, police said Friday.
Police arrested both men Thursday after an hours-long search for one of them, Deputy Police Chief Jeffrey Hutchinson said.
The incident started at about 9:30 p.m. Hutchinson said that Kevin Parker, 22, of New Haven, and Vaswani Grant, 18, of New Haven, went to Guilford to confront a man they said owed them money.
Parker and Grant spoke to the man, who police are not identifying, at his home on Boston Post Road, Hutchinson said. They demanded money from him, and Grant hit him with a BB gun in the shape of a 9mm pistol. The man’s wife, who was home with their 2-year-old child, and a neighbor called police to report the fight.
When officers arrived, the two men fled to their car, which was parked nearby in the lot of a business at 2548 Boston Post Road, Hutchinson said.
While trying to escape, they crashed into a rock in the parking lot.
Hutchinson said that an officer ordered them to the ground, but they ran into a nearby wooded area.
With the help of a canine unit from the East Haven Police Department, as well as Branford and state police, officers apprehended Parker “pretty quickly,” Hutchinson said.
They were unable to locate Grant, but around midnight police began receiving reports from Boston Post Road businesses that a man was asking people for a ride to New Haven.
A Guilford officer arrested Grant at a gas station, Hutchinson said.
Grant, of 78 Dell Drive, was charged with first-degree robbery, second-degree assault with a firearm, second-degree larceny, threatening, risk of injury to minor, possession of a facsimile firearm, conspiracy, evading responsibility and breach of peace.
He was held Thursday night in lieu of $100,000 bail and arraigned Friday morning.
Parker, of 24 Pardee Place, faces charges of first-degree robbery, second-degree larceny, threatening, risk of injury to minor, breach of peace and conspiracy.
He was also held in lieu of $100,000 bail and arraigned Friday.
The alleged victim in the incident was bleeding from a wound on his head, but declined medical treatment, Hutchinson said.