POLICE NEWS:
3 February, 2015 – “DID YOU HEAR THAT GUNSHOT”?
At 8:30 PM, Officers Christopher Cameron and Carlos Conceicao were at
Dwight and Chapel Streets when they heard a gunshot. It sounded to them
as if it had come from the area of the nearby Antillean Manor housing
complex.
Officers Derek Werner and David Diaz were just blocks away on
Kensington Street when they heard the shot and radioed it in to
dispatchers. They thought the shot was fired close to the Kensington
Park. They headed there and began searching.
As they searched, Officers Conceicao and Cameron spotted Hassan Toller
(7-25-1990), of Bond Street in New Haven. He was on housing authority
property and didn’t live there. He was hunched over in a parking lot.
When Toler saw the Officers, he started walking down the sidewalk.
Officer Conceicao recognized him from a previous gun and drug arrest and
followed him to Day Street.
The Officer got in Toler’s way forcing Toler to walk toward him.
“Did you hear that gunshot”, asked Officer Conceicao. “No,
Carlos. I didn’t hear anything”, Toler responded. When asked what he
was doing back there, Toler said, “Nothing”. He was breathing
heavily and when questioned by the Officer about that, decided not to
stick around. Toler picked up his pace, looking over his shoulder at
Officer Conceicao several times.
Officer Conceicao followed Toler who had his right hand in his jacket
pocket. He called out, “Hassan, come here”. He didn’t. Instead,
Toler ran in a full sprint from the Officer. Officer Cameron was running
toward Toler from another direction. Toler took a dark object from his
pocket and tossed it to the ground.
Officers Werner and Diaz were heading to the spot Toler was running.
Soon surrounded, Toler followed the order to stop.
The item he’d discarded was a loaded black “Ruger” LC9 9mm
semi-automatic handgun with a laser attachment. The items he’d failed
to discard – found in his sweatshirt pocket were his five bags of
crack cocaine and money – suspected to be the profit from illegal drug
dealing.
Toler, a convicted felon, was arrested and charged with carrying a
pistol without a permit, criminal possession of a firearm, a few
narcotics charges and trespassing. No one had been shot.
During his arrest, Toler complained he was out of breath and requested
medical assistance. EMTs were called and transported him to Yale – New
Haven Hospital. He was soon released and brought to the detention center
for booking.
Officer David B Hartman, Media Liaison
Office of the Chief
Headquarters
New Haven Police Department
1 Union Avenue
New Haven, CT 06519
Office - 203-946-6285
Department Mobile - 203-589-3238
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