Police: Norwalk kidnapping suspect charged with assault

ANSONIA — Officers investigating a complaint found the suspect covered in blood when he opened the door to speak with them Tuesday evening, according to local police.

Enrique Rivas-Castillo, 23, was charged by Ansonia police with third-degree assault and disorderly conduct, Officer Michael Bartunek of the Ansonia Police Department wrote in a report shared with Hearst Connecticut Media. Rivas-Castillo was released on $7,500 bond at Bridgeport Hospital and appeared at state Superior Court in Derby at 9 a.m. Wednesday, the report said.

Officers responded to Rivas-Castillo's Central Street apartment around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday for a report of a “possible physical altercation” between two people, according to the police report. The complaint had been made by a neighbor, the report said. When Bartunek knocked on the door to the apartment, the report said, a man, identified as Rivas-Castillo, answered.

Rivas-Castillo “had fresh blood on his shirt and face,” Bartunek wrote. “Rivas-Castillo also had a bloody nose and there was blood on his mouth.”

Explaining his injuries, Rivas-Castillo told police that he had been involved in a motorcycle crash in Bridgeport Monday night and said that he had been treated at Bridgeport Hospital and released, according to the report. When asked about the neighbor's complaint, the report said, Rivas-Castillo said that “nobody was in the apartment” and that he had only been arguing on the phone with a friend.

During the investigation, a 19-year-old woman flagged down officers outside of a Central Street home, according to the report. The woman told police that Rivas-Castillo had hit her in the ribs and pushed her down “hitting her head and face on the pavement,” the report said. The attack left her dizzy and disoriented, the report said.

The woman also alleged that Rivas-Castillo had taken her phone, wallet and purse and refused to return them to her, according to the report. He was arrested by Ansonia police at 7:25 p.m. Tuesday, the report said.

Rivas-Castillo was also charged with multiple offenses by Norwalk police Wednesday in connection with related incidents, Lt. Joseph Dinho, a spokesperson for the Norwalk Police Department, said. The charges included second-degree kidnapping, first-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree threatening and engaging police in pursuit. He was held on $75,000 bond and arraigned at state Superior Court in Stamford Thursday.