Man charged with pepper spraying grocery clerk

MIDDLETOWN — A Haddam man was arrested recently following a disturbance that allegedly caused him to pepper spray a man who worked at a local grocery store.

Authorities were summoned to Stop & Shop on East Main Street about a man, Alexander N. Mason, 70, of County High Meadow Place, Haddam, who was reportedly engaged in a verbal argument with an employee who was allegedly intoxicated.

When police asked Mason to remove his hands from his pocket, he reached for a knife, according to the report.

Authorities said that when they asked Mason to produce identification, he replied he didn’t have a driver’s license.

When asked for his name, police said Mason offered his middle name and surname, which they couldn’t find in a records search.

Mason later said he goes by “Nick” as a tribute to his father, but it wasn’t his legal name, the report said. Mason claimed he sprayed the man in self-defense, authorities said.

When officers interviewed the victim, who was seated outside with his face still red, he was uncooperative, highly intoxicated and argumentative, police said in the report.

The man’s manager told officials the victim had been sent home earlier in the day, the report said.

Mason, who is charged with interfering with an officer and failure to allow fingerprinting, was held in lieu of a $1,500 bail for a court appearance the following day.