Poet staying at Merrill House victim of race-based insult

Stonington — Acclaimed poet Airea Matthews, who was staying at the James Merrill House in the borough this month, was involved in an incident Sunday night in which police say the occupants of a Jeep threw a water bottle at her on Water Street and yelled an “insulting comment based on her race.”

Matthews, who won the 2016 Yale Younger Poets Award, is black.

For the past decade, the 107 Water St. apartment, which is the home of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning poet James Merrill, has hosted visiting writers and poets to live and work on their craft in the same space Merrill did. The building, which has several other apartments and commercial space, recently was designated a National Historic Landmark.

It is unclear if Matthews, who was staying in the apartment this month, has returned to her Detroit home. No one answered the door at the Merrill apartment on Thursday and Friday.

Bill Middleton, co-chairman of the James Merrill House Committee, referred comment about the incident to Matthews, who did not respond to requests for comment.

Police said the incident occurred at 10:38 p.m. Sunday as Matthews walked along Water Street. Police said a passing dark-colored Jeep Wrangler with at least two male occupants threw a water bottle at her and then made the comment. The bottle did not hit her. Police de-

clined to say exactly what was said to Matthews because detectives are continuing to investigate the incident.

The Jeep then drove toward Stonington Point. A short time before the incident, police said the same Jeep threw a bottle at a white man on North Main Street and yelled something at him that the man could not make out.

The man saw the Jeep drive over the viaduct and into the borough on the road that becomes Water Street.

Police Capt. Todd Olson said officers scoured the area for the Jeep and put out a bulletin with its description. They also are reviewing surveillance video.