Police: Store Clerk Called In False Claim of Gun-Wielding Customer

A report from an Enfield convenience store clerk about an angry customer waving a handgun resulted in the arrest of the clerk on a false complaint charge.

Mihir Patel, 29, was charged with falsely reporting an incident in connection with the Sunday night claim. No bond information was available.

Police Chief Carl Sferrazza said Patel called police around 7 p.m. Sunday from a convenience store at 935 Enfield Street. He claimed a customer was buying some lottery tickets when a black male got tired of waiting and took out a gun. Patel told police the man then got into a white Chevrolet four-door sedan and left, heading northbound on Route 5.

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As police were on scene investigating the incident, the white car drove by the store and Patel said, “That’s him.” Police pulled the car over, but found no weapons in the vehicle or on the man’s person, and eventually let him go, Sferrazza said.

“Other details in the investigation led us to conclude it was a false complaint,” Sferrazza said. He did not elaborate on what those other details were.

Judicial records do not yet have a court date set for Patel on the charge; however, he is scheduled to appear in Enfield Superior Court on Oct. 6 on unrelated charges of operating under the influence and possession of less than a half-ounce of cannabis, stemming from a May 22, 2015 arrest in Windsor.

Photo courtesy of Enfield Police Department