Online Date Turns Into Carjacking in New Haven

NEW HAVEN, CT — A Waterbury man thought he was meeting up with a woman for an online date in the city, but it turned into a carjacking instead, according to police.

Police were dispatched around 7:15 a.m. Dec. 10 to investigate.

The 27-year-old man was instructed by the supposed woman to meet in an ally next to the building on Winthrop Avenue and that she would be waiting. Instead he was met by an armed man who attacked him, said Officer David Hartman, police spokesman.

The assault was caught on camera and witnesses described it to police.

"They described the crime and one provided the officers with surveillance footage from a nearby camera," Hartman said. "It showed a man, armed with a handgun, fighting with the victim. As the armed man tries pushing the victim toward a building, the gun flies backwards from his hand. When the crook goes to retrieve it, the victim takes off."

The perpetrator chased the victim to his 2000 black Honda Civic and took it. Police issued a general alert to patrolling officers to be on the lookout for the vehicle.

Officer David Rivera spotted the vehicle shortly before 2 p.m. on East Street. Officers coordinated to stop the vehicle. The pursuit ended with the Honda crashing on Sherman Avenue. Occupants scattered, but two were nabbed, Hartman said.

Fred Adams, 21, of Winthrop Avenue was charged with possession of more than four ounces of a controlled substance. Shayvon Avery Bethea-Frazier, 19, of Whalley Avenue was charged with possession of marijuana.

No one was charged with the carjacking yet.

Images in order: Adams, Bethea-Frazier courtesy New Haven Police