TRIBAL MEMBER SOUGHT IN ASSAULT
A Mashantucket-Pequot tribal member is being sought in connection with the assault of a Foxwoods Resort Casino security officer. Tribal police say they have an arrest warrant out for 28-year old Jukumu Reels-Felder. His last known address was on the tribal reservation. Reels-Felder is accused of punching Brooke Wyngaard in the face early Sunday morning, as she was responding to a disturbance in the Fox Tower. Wyngaard says she’s facing surgery for facial bone fractures and a broken nose. Reels-Felder served a 21-month prison term after pleading guilty in a 2012 beating and stabbing of an 18-year old in Norwich.
DEATH ON I-395
Police activity in Thompson this morning as officers look into the report of a deceased person in the highway. The call came in just after 5 am from the Route 193 overpass. State police are investigating the incident as an untimely death due to injury but that the death appears non-criminal. The probe prompted the closure of the right lane of I-395 southbound between exits 50 and 47.
NL RESTAURANT PROPOSED
The owner of Sunset Ribs in Waterford is looking to open a waterfront restaurant in New London. Frank Marratta is negotiating a lease with the city to open a restaurant and oyster bar overlooking Custom House Pier. It would be a seasonal operation serving lunch and dinner with waterfront seating. The City Council Tuesday is scheduled to meet behind closed doors to discuss a possible lease. Marrata has also developed Harbor Park in Middletown and The Pavilion in Old Lyme.
INDICTMENT IN NEW HAVEN DRUG OVERDOSES
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) – A New Haven man accused of distributing synthetic marijuana amid a rash of overdoses has been indicted. Federal authorities say a grand jury indicted 47-year-old Quentin Staggers on Thursday on three drug charges. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each count. Prosecutors have accused Staggers of possessing and distributing synthetic marijuana on July 20, Aug. 15 and Aug. 16. He was detained by police Aug. 16 as New Haven dealt with a wave of more than 100 overdoses from the drug. No one died. Two other men also were arrested. Staggers is an advocate for the homeless who was homeless himself for several years. It was not immediately clear if he has a lawyer. Synthetic marijuana is usually is plant material sprayed with chemicals or other substances.
PRESSURE COOKER FOUND, DETONATED NEAR MERIDEN SCHOOL
MERIDEN, Conn. (AP) – A police bomb squad has blown up a pressure cooker that was found abandoned near a Connecticut elementary school, scaring parents and prompting a shelter-in-place order for students and staff. Meriden police responded to a reported suspicious item near Israel Putnam Elementary School at about 8 a.m. Thursday.
The state police bomb squad was called in and safely detonated the pressure cooker at about 10:30 a.m. The school’s shelter-in-place order was lifted shortly afterward, as worried parents tried to pick up their children. Authorities do not believe the pressure cooker was made into a bomb, but they declined to say what was inside it. The devices have been used to make bombs including two that detonated at the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 260 others.
