‘I’ve never bothered anybody in my life’
Milford man needed 300 stitches in latest violence from catalytic converter thefts in CT
A Milford man needed 300 stitches after police say a catalytic converter thief slashed his face with a motorized tool, the latest confrontation in a statewide surge in such thefts.
Luke O’Brien, a self-employed carpenter, will be out of work for at least eight weeks, his wife, Linda Drury, said Friday. She has launched a GoFundMe page to help pay medical bills.
Around 2 a.m. Tuesday, O’Brien went outside to check on a noise. In an interview Friday, O’Brien, 60, said he thought someone might be trying to break into his truck and steal his tools.
When he got to the driveway, a person holding a grinder, a tool with a circular cutting blade, came up from behind him and ran the blade across the right side of his face from ear to chin, O’Brien said. The blade also raked his right shoulder and cut his knees and one foot, probably after the thief dropped it. “I must have left a half-gallon of blood in the driveway,” O’Brien said.
His adult son, who lives with the couple, heard the commotion and came to his aid. The suspect was described as tall and thin, wearing all black with a black face mask, police said. He took off in a silver sedan.
The grinding noise came from the thief trying to cut the catalytic converter from a neighbor’s SUV, O’Brien and Drury said. Early Monday morning, O’Brien had opened the front door to investigate noises in the yard, but whoever it was took off. O’Brien said the same person likely came back the next night.
“I never bothered anybody in my life,” O’Brien said. “It’s sad.”
“Luke has such a big heart and it saddens me to know that he was attacked because he wanted to check what was going on outside and to make sure we all were safe,” Drury wrote on the GoFundMe page.
By Friday afternoon, the GoFundMe site had raised more than $16,000.
“Ninety percent of those people he has done something for,” Drury said.
O’Brien was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital’s trauma center, where he underwent an emergency CT scan and received the 300 sutures, his wife said. Besides being out of work for about two months, he faces a long rehabilitation, including treatment to prevent drooling, his wife said.
Catalytic converter thieves, who cash in on valuable metals in the pollution scrubbing devices, have been victimizing owners of cars, trucks and buses in Connecticut and across the nation.
In Connecticut, residents have been shot at and assaulted and police officers have narrowly escaped being hit by suspects fleeing in cars, which also are often stolen. The most grievous confrontation happened last September in Farmington when Officer James O’Donnell was crushed between a fleeing suspect’s car and his cruiser.
Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill into law last month meant to curb the illicit trade in stolen converters. In effect on July 1, the law prohibits recyclers and scrap yards from receiving converters that are not attached to vehicles. The law also boosts recordkeeping requirements and requires scrap metal dealers to submit all information on converter sales to the state police weekly.
Critics have said, however, that the law will have little effect because thieves will turn to out-of-state scrap yards or sell the devices online.
“It’s getting out of hand — they need to do something,” Drury said.