Stonington Quality Inn Hate Crime Suspects In Custody: PD

STONINGTON, CT — Philip Sarner and Emily Orbay have been taken into custody in Brooklyn by U.S. Marshals, Stonington Police Capt. Todd Olson announced early Monday.

The New York couple will be charged in connection with an attack at the Quality Inn motel in Mystic on June 26.

Olson said Sarner and Orbay are in custody and will be extradited to Connecticut to face assault and hate crime charges.

Olson said Sarner will be charged with second-degree assault, third-degree assault and intimidation based on bigotry and bias, the latter of which is Connecticut's hate crime statute.

Orbay will be charged with two counts of third-degree assault and intimidation based on bigotry and bias.

Chrystal Caldwell, 59, of Groton, was working at the front desk when Sarner called to tell her the hot water in his room wasn't working, then threatened her, saying his girlfriend would "kick her ass."

Shortly after, he came down to the front desk, again threatened Caldwell, who is Black, and then assaulted her, punching her repeatedly in the head and calling her racial slurs, according to a police report. Police said Sarner and Orbay attacked her again, repeatedly kicking her in the back.

Caldwell and witnesses say Sarner and Orbay, who are white, yelled racial slurs during the attack.

The 911 calls

In the first 911 call released to Patch by police following a Freedom of Information Act request, the motel's manager tells a dispatcher, "I have a guest beating up on my desk clerk ... he's smacking my desk clerk around ... physically beat her ..." Patch has uploaded the calls to SoundCloud. Listen to the first call here.

The second call is from Sarner to police.

The town has hired an independent investigator to review police handling of the case as many have questioned why police did not arrest Sarner and Orbay before they returned to New York.

Police version of events

Last week, Olson released a lengthy statement detailing the police response.

"On Friday, June 26, 2020, at approximately 11:30 a.m. two 911 calls were received reporting a physical disturbance at the Quality Inn," the statement said. "While police were responding, and before their arrival, a second, much more violent, attack took place.

"When police arrived, they first encountered the female employee victim. While speaking with her, officers were alerted that the two guests involved in the incident were outside. Officers then engaged with the guests. As officers were interviewing the 3 involved parties, all of them requested medical attention. Ambulances were summoned to the scene and all parties were transported to local medical facilities."

He said the ambulances left at or around noon.

"Officers remained on scene and spoke with the two most substantial witnesses; these two witnesses are also employees; the continued investigation and discussion with those two employees was in the lobby and captured on video. Employees on scene at that time were having difficulty getting access to video footage, and officers could only view portions of the initial altercation. Nevertheless, from witness accounts, police had established probable cause to charge both guests in the incident. One of the employees asked what to do with the guests' belongings in the room. Staff was advised by police to restrict the keycard access to the room, and call police should the two guests arrive back from the hospital.

"Police called L + M (Hospital) and learned from staff that police would not be permitted inside the ER to make an arrest due to COVID-19 procedures. Since this incident, police and hospital management have discussed and resolved protocols related to the COVID pandemic. In further effort to make contact with the suspect for an arrest, police contacted him by phone at the hospital, and advised that he needed to contact police to be escorted back to the hotel to retrieve belongings because the suspects were not welcome back at the hotel that day. At that time, the officers planned to charge both suspects. The next contact with either suspect was shortly after 3:00 p.m. when the male called to report he was being threatened and harassed by the victim's family via Facebook. Police then called the male suspect (approx.. 3:20 p.m.) who reported he was still at the hospital. Police went back to the Quality Inn to see if the suspect was actually returning; their intent, again, was to charge both suspects, but found the suspect's vehicle was gone," Olson said.

"Over the weekend, police continued to work with hotel staff to obtain the video as quickly as possible. On Monday, June 29, 2020, police received all of the video footage of the incident. This was the 1st time the entire videos were seen by police.

"Surveillance from the hotel shows that on Friday, June 26, 2020, at 2:19 p.m., the two suspects were dropped off by a Lyft driver, they hurry to their vehicle and immediately leave. From the time the Lyft vehicle pulls into the lot near the suspects' car to the time the suspects are pulling onto route 27 is less than 1 minute.

"Surveillance also revealed that during the minutes between the second assault and the police encountering the suspects, the two suspects walked to their vehicle and the female put a large bag in the trunk. This information was not known to officers at scene, and officers still believed that the suspects would need the police to access their belongings in the room. On June 30, 2020, during a follow-up interview of one of the witnesses, police learned that the suspects had not left anything in the room as initially thought.

"On Wednesday, July 1, 2020, Stonington Police secured arrest warrants for the suspects involved in this case. In a detailed affidavit to the State's Attorney's office, police requested charges related to Assault and Bigotry and Bias. After review of the facts of the case, the State's Attorney's office has signed warrants for Assault 3rd Degree for the female suspect, and Assault 2nd Degree for the male suspect. Police are working with partners in New York and the FBI's Civil Rights Division, in continuance of this investigation including the apprehension of the suspects."

An independent investigation underway

First Selectwoman Danielle Chesebrough released this statement: "Over the past two weeks many people have been diligently working to better understand the events that took place on June 26, 2020 when the appalling assault of a Mystic hotel employee occurred. We thank many of you in Stonington, as well as our neighboring communities, for your outreach, input and assistance while this work has been occurring, as well as the kindness displayed by many to the woman attacked."

"In the interest of transparency, we wanted to share that Chief Darren Stewart, with support from the Police Commission, requested an external review of the investigation. I have since retained through the law director’s office an independent firm to conduct an external review specifically about this event and the Stonington Police Department Policies and Procedures. This investigator will soon be providing a confidential dedicated email address seeking input from the public. The decision to conduct an external review was made in partnership in order to ensure that our community retains the confidence in our officers that they need to carry out the important work they do every day. Findings from the review will be shared with the public."

On July 5, there was a rally at the Stonington Police Department to bring public awareness to the attack on Caldwell, get answers about the investigation, ensure police accountability for the officers who were on scene and to make sure Sarner and Orbay be charged with a hate crime. The same day, at a Black Lives Matter rally held in Stonington Borough, protesters also called for "justice for Chrystal."

Sarner's arrest record in New York

Sarner, of Brooklyn, but previously of Nassau County in Long Island, has a lengthy arrest record.

According to court documents obtained by Patch, he's currently facing felony and misdemeanor charges of weapon possession, menacing with a weapon, and attempted assault with a weapon among others. A protective order was filed in a 2019 domestic violence case against him. Court records show he initially was released without any bail but a subsequent case in December 2019 led to a $100 bail for Sarner in February.

Sarner also has an active larceny case in Nassau County, records show.