Probe: Stonington police mishandled racist attack

An independent probe released this week found issues with the Stonington Police Department’s handling of a racist attack against a front desk clerk at a Mystic hotel in June, but the chief investigator does not believe the problems were brought on by malice or bias.

Town officials hired Blum Shapiro to investigate how the department dealt with the June 26 incident that led to a delayed arrest of a New York couple who were later charged with assaulting an employee. Police were criticized for not immediately making an arrest and allowing the couple to leave the hotel and return to New York.

The Blum Shapiro investigator, former Hartford police

Officer Frank Rudewicz, wrote in a 52-page report that no laws were broken, nor were policies violated, but the tactics used by police were faulty and led to one of the suspects slipping through the grasp of officers that day.

“While additional steps could have been implemented to ensure the custodial arrest of [Philip] Sarner at the time, no information was found that indicated bias or malicious intent by the actions of SPD,” Rudewicz wrote.

Officers were called to the hotel that day following two 911 calls including one from a hotel worker saying an employee had been attacked by a guest. The victim told officers that a guest, upset about a lack of hot water in his room, had “jumped her.”

The victim, Crystal Caldwell, who is Black, said the male guest that attacked her had yelled racial epithets at her during the confrontation.

Officers spoke to the guests, who were leaving the hotel. Sarner said he and the female guest, Emily Orbay, were simply defending themselves. Both Sarner and Orbay were taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries officers observed. Caldwell was also taken to the hospital.

Stonington police continued their investigation, reviewing surveillance video and speaking to witnesses, and determined there was probable cause to arrest Sarner and Orbay, Rudewicz’s report read.

Police determined the best course of action was to issue Orbay a misdemeanor summons for third-degree assault, but take Sarner into custody, according to the report.

An officer contacted Lawrence + Memorial Hospital to discuss taking Sarner into custody there, but a misunderstanding ensued and the officer was left believing that an arrest at the hospital was not permitted because of coronavirus restrictions.

The hospital denied that to be true but the officer’s report of the conversation was included in a news release from Stonington police regarding the incident, the investigation showed.

Authorities, who decided against waiting at the hospital, crafted a plan to take Sarner into custody at the hotel. They had hotel staff deactivate the couple’s room keys and told Sarner he needed a police escort to collect the things that he previously said he had left in his room.

Sarner later spoke to one of the officers to say he was discharged from the hospital and returning for his belongings, but at that time, the report reads, Sarner had already gone to the hotel and left in his car.

Rudewicz noted in this report that no officer was stationed at Sarner’s vehicle, and Sarner was able to take a Lyft to the hotel and leave unnoticed. He and Orbay were not taken into custody until July.

Sarner was ultimately charged with second-degree assault, third-degree assault and intimidation based on bigotry and bias. Orbay was charged with two counts of third-degree assault and one count of intimidation based on bigotry and bias.

They posted bond, were released from custody and are due in Superior Court in New London Friday.

Rudewicz acknowledged that the department should have taken further steps to ensure that Sarner was arrested on the day of the attack.

“Candidly, the SPD attempted to lure Sarner into returning to the hotel under their escort, only to be placed into custody,” he wrote. “This attempt failed, in essence, because Sarner tricked SPD.”

Local officials said they plan to discuss the report both internally and with the town’s board of police commissioners.