Hate crime charges added for white couple
Fugitives accused of racist attack on Black hotel worker
The white couple accused of attacking a Black hotel worker in Mystic are now facing not only assault charges, but hate crime charges as well, Stonington police said Friday. Two weeks after the attack, the couple is still at large.
According to police, the Office of the State’s Attorney issued new warrants with added charges of intimidation based on bigotry and bias. Those charges fall under Connecticut’s hate crimes law.
According to police, Philip Sarner and Emily Orbay attacked 59-year-old Crystal Caldwell on June 26 at the Whitehall Avenue Quality Inn, where Caldwell works as a front desk clerk.
Caldwell’s attorney, John Strafaci, previously told the Courant that Sarner and Orbay became “belligerent” after complaining about a lack of hot water in the hotel. The couple then allegedly came to the front desk and, in two separate attacks, punched and kicked Caldwell and used racist slurs.
The attack is one of at least seven racist incidents in Connecticut in recent weeks, in the midst of nationwide protests for racial justice.
After the racist attack in Mystic, police have said, the couple and Caldwell were taken to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital — but police did not arrest the couple at that time. Warrants for the couple’s arrest weren’t signed until July 1, the Courant previously reported.
By then, Sarner and Orbay had already left Connecticut and police believe they returned to their home state of New York. Several days after the warrants were signed, Stonington police asked for the
public’s help because they still had not located the couple.
Stonington police said in a Friday press release that the department is “working with other law enforcement agencies to locate and apprehend” Sarner and Orbay. The couple does not have a permanent address, the Courant previously reported, but are primarily from Nassau County, New York.
Stonington police have said they took their time with the investigation in order to build an “ironclad” case, and that they were barred from arresting the couple at the hospital because of COVID-19 restrictions.
But Caldwell, Strafaci and a number of activists have criticized the delay.
“It’s clear to us that, had the roles been reversed, had this been a white woman from Mystic who was brutally assaulted like this, the two individuals would have been arrested on the spot,” Strafaci said earlier this month.
Caldwell previously told the Courant that the attack left her with a concussion and injuries to her face, wrist, knee and back. It’s also left her with a deeper trauma.
“I can’t sleep. I see the vision of his foot coming toward my face. I feel I could not be here right now,” Caldwell said. “I’m a praying woman, so I pray and talk to God a lot to try to get me through this safely.”
With the added charges, Sarner now faces one count each of second-degree assault, third-degree assault and intimidation based on bigotry and bias. Orbay now faces two counts of third-degree assault and one count of intimidation based on bigotry and bias.