Videos Show Alleged Confrontation Between Middletown Police and Man Loitering

A series of YouTube videos purportedly showing a patron of the being targeted by an officer for loitering on city property is once again raising questions of whether police are unfairly targeting the city's North End.

The videos, titled, "Middletown CT police illegally ticket bar patron then steal witness's camera," totaling 11 minutes long, of a man referred to as “John” and uploaded on Aug. 16, were taken by patrons inside the Main Street bar.

Loitering has been an issue of debate in the North End, on pedestrians by city police.

The YouTube videos, uploaded by an individual identified only as “neonxdisease,” are accompanied by this statement: “The customer was pulled from INSIDE the bar area, away from his drink, to be searched without cause and then ticketed for LOITERING when the police could not find any other reason to cite him."

Reached for comment, no one at the bar on Wednesday knew about the citation. But Middletown police confirmed the incident happened on Aug 16.

In an email response to Middletown Patch, police spokesman Lt. Heather Desmond said the report in the case is not finished, and wouldn't be done for a couple of days. But Desmond confirmed that an individual was "arrested for loitering" and was "issued an infraction."

"He was standing in the middle of the road," Desmond said. "He was non-compliant."

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