3 Teens Charged In East Haven Robbery: Police

EAST HAVEN, CT —A brazen robbery that had the suspects take off in a car that had been reported stolen, which would soon crash off Interstate 95, led to the arrest of three juvenile males, police said.

According to East Haven Police Department Capt. Joseph M. Murgo, last Thursday, a woman was pumping gas at a Frontage Road station when she realized her purse had been taken from her car. She soon saw the bag in the lap of a passenger in a black BMW which was next to hers at the gas station. Murgo said the woman opened the BMW rear door to get her bag back but was "punched while trying to do so." The woman reported that another passenger in the BMW tried to pull her into the car, "but let go once she started screaming." She let go of her bag and "quickly pulled her cell phone out to record" the car as it fled the gas station and captured the license plate of the vehicle, a 2011 BMW 328 xi stolen out of Milford just three days before.

Murgo said that police "quickly saturated the area" and found the car heading south on I-95. He said that "due to the reckless operation of the BMW" cops did not give chase and lost sight of it around Long Wharf. New Haven police found it "unoccupied with damage to it," Murgo said, noting it was "apparent that the vehicle was involved in an accident while exiting I-95 at exit 46." A witness told cops they saw the crash and saw three people running towards Jordan’s Furniture. Murgo said East Haven and New Haven officers "quickly located three juvenile male suspects and took them into custody without further incident."

One of the teens had a handgun that was later determined to be stolen out of Ansonia in March. The woman's bag was found in the BMW.

The New Haven Police Department took all three into custody and charged them for the stolen vehicle and the recovered firearm.

The three were also issued juvenile summonses charging them with first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree larceny, two counts of conspiracy to commit second-degree larceny and interfering with an officer. A third teen was also charged with reckless driving, engaging in a police pursuit and evading responsibility.

All three are scheduled to appear in juvenile court on June 2.