Students encounter violence at late-night eateries

PATRICK MCGARVEY/YH MIDNIGHT SNACK: Restaurants such as Broadway Pizza think it's worth it to stay open late, even if violence occasionally erupts.

Erik Johnson, TD '00, went to Broadway Pizza around 1 a.m. on Thurs., Mar. 3, to buy a slice of pizza. Instead, he received a punch in the face.

Johnson was standing at the register waiting to pay his bill when a crowd of New Havenites who had just left Toad's Place packed the restaurant and waited to place their orders. That was when tensions started to flare. "I went up to the register to pay my bill, and there was a girl to my right who kept on waving her arm across my face to another girl to the left of me. Finally she threw a punch and she hit me," he said. "She didn't even acknowledge that she hit me."

Johnson was even more shocked by the violent reaction of the Broadway employee at the cash register. "He started screaming, `No fighting in my store,' jumped over the counter, grabbed all four girls who were fighting, and threw them out of the store." When the girls returned to the restaurant a few minutes later and started punching each other again, they shattered a glass divider. At this point, the same employee apparently chased the girls out with a pizza cutter, called the police, and closed down the restaurant for the night."

Broadway Pizza, like many of the late-night eateries near campus, is located near a drinking establishment. This proximity creates the potential for dangerous altercations between Yalies and drunken patrons. Pietro Canetta, JE '01, found this out firsthand while eating hamburgers with his friends in front of Louis' Lunch at 2 a.m. on a Saturday night a few months ago.

After BAR, a bar across the street, closed for the night, the inebriated late-night crowd spilled into the street. As police attempted to keep order, according to Canetta, an intoxicated man ran over to Canetta and his friends, screaming threats at them, and knocked a drink out of one of their hands. "He was screaming at us,`What if I killed you? Have you ever been shot?'" Canetta said. He and his companions escaped without further incident.

But students heading home from campus parties and bars are business for local restaurants, and restaurant owners and managers are willing to cope with such skirmishes. "It is worthwhile to stay open late," Broadway Pizza manager Mary Russbach said. "It's busier, because after the bars close we are still open. We provide a service to the students."

In fact, Ray Denardis, general manager of Au Bon Pain, recently extended the restau-rant's hours until midnight seven days a week because he thought it would be profitable. "I think we have an edge," Denardis said. "Financially it has shown that there is a market for late-night business in this area."

Yale Police Chief James Perrotti said his department has recognized this safety issue and is collaborating with the New Haven Police Department to tackle it. "Particularly in the Crown Street area, where there are a number of drinking establishments, our department and the New Haven police have allocated additional officers as people are leaving the bars." Canetta noticed that when the area's bars close for the night, 10 to 15 New Haven and Yale police officers are stationed outside on Crown Street, ready to chase the rowdy crowd out of the area.

George Koutroumanis, a partner and manager at Yorkside Pizza, said his employees feel very secure knowing that they can always find a police officer next door at Toad's Place. "We can just stick our head outside and ask for help if there is a problem in our restaurant," he said.

Perrotti said a very high percentage of arrests made outside late-night restaurants are for minor infractions, such as "rowdy behavior, public drinking, and quality-of-life issues, like not using the restrooms inside the facility." He explained, "The Yale Police's joint cooperation with the New Haven Police has really been a deterrent for more incidents."

Some restaurant owners suggested one solution to late-night problems might be to further increase police efforts in areas where students tend to go for late-night snacks. "The more police presence there is, the better it is for everyone. Students and store owners would both feel better," Koutroumanis said.

Despite his experience at Louie's, Canetta still occasionally grabs a bite to eat there late at night. He feels nighttime violence is an unavoidable aspect of living New Haven. "If you go out at that time of night, there are always a lot of drunk people," he said."My friends and I still go, but always in groups of at least two or three."

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