Teh One Who Knocks
10-01-2020, 11:47 AM
By Peter Yankowski - CT Post
https://i.imgur.com/SpWdg4jl.jpg
MONTVILLE — State Police have arrested a Norwich man in connection with the armed robbery of a Chinese restaurant last year, after they linked his DNA to a blood stain found near the crime scene.
But in an interview with detectives who came to take a DNA sample under a search warrant, 38-year-old Gregory Blue first said police planted the evidence — before claiming a phlebotomist dropped his DNA on the scene with an airplane.
State police charged Blue on Friday with first-degree robbery with a dangerous instrument, second-degree assault resulting in serious physical injury and second-degree larceny stemming from the Dec. 16 incident.
Police were dispatched to Golden Palace Chinese Restaurant on Norwich New London Turnpike a little after 10 p.m. that night.
There, the unidentified victim, a 45-year-old man, told police he had been approached in the parking lot by another man who asked him for a light, according to a redacted copy of Blue’s arrest warrant.
The victim told police the man, who police said was Blue, pulled a gun on him and demanded his money, phone and keys.
When the assailant briefly pointed the gun away from the victim, the man went for the gun and tussled with Blue. During the fight, the victim was struck in the head with the gun, but it did not discharge, the man told police.
Both fell to the ground, and Blue stabbed the victim in the side with a knife, according to the warrant.
The victim told police he was able to get the gun away from his assailant. When the gun “didn’t work,” the warrant said, the victim once again overpowered the other man, who fled on foot up the Route 2A on ramp across the street.
The gun, recovered two weeks later, turned out to be an Airsoft gun, according to the warrant.
Investigators found a large blood smear on a metal guard rail on the on ramp. DNA was recovered from the blood, and from two hats the victim told police were knocked off his assailant’s head during the fight.
Detectives interviewed Blue in June when they came to take a swab sample of his DNA while he was incarcerated at Corrigan Correctional Center in Montville.
Blue claimed one of the detectives interviewing him planted his DNA at the scene, before he “continued to allege that a phlebotomist who took his blood years ago dropped his DNA at the scene via airplane,” according to the warrant.
The state forensic lab later confirmed the DNA recovered from the scene was consistent with Blue’s, the warrant said.
Blue has been convicted of several felonies in Connecticut, including second-degree robbery, first degree escape and first degree harassment, according to the warrant.
He was held in lieu of $250,000 bond and appeared in court Friday for his arraignment. He is due back in New London court Oct. 30 and is also facing robbery and assault charges stemming from an arrest in Norwich in April this year.
https://i.imgur.com/SpWdg4jl.jpg
MONTVILLE — State Police have arrested a Norwich man in connection with the armed robbery of a Chinese restaurant last year, after they linked his DNA to a blood stain found near the crime scene.
But in an interview with detectives who came to take a DNA sample under a search warrant, 38-year-old Gregory Blue first said police planted the evidence — before claiming a phlebotomist dropped his DNA on the scene with an airplane.
State police charged Blue on Friday with first-degree robbery with a dangerous instrument, second-degree assault resulting in serious physical injury and second-degree larceny stemming from the Dec. 16 incident.
Police were dispatched to Golden Palace Chinese Restaurant on Norwich New London Turnpike a little after 10 p.m. that night.
There, the unidentified victim, a 45-year-old man, told police he had been approached in the parking lot by another man who asked him for a light, according to a redacted copy of Blue’s arrest warrant.
The victim told police the man, who police said was Blue, pulled a gun on him and demanded his money, phone and keys.
When the assailant briefly pointed the gun away from the victim, the man went for the gun and tussled with Blue. During the fight, the victim was struck in the head with the gun, but it did not discharge, the man told police.
Both fell to the ground, and Blue stabbed the victim in the side with a knife, according to the warrant.
The victim told police he was able to get the gun away from his assailant. When the gun “didn’t work,” the warrant said, the victim once again overpowered the other man, who fled on foot up the Route 2A on ramp across the street.
The gun, recovered two weeks later, turned out to be an Airsoft gun, according to the warrant.
Investigators found a large blood smear on a metal guard rail on the on ramp. DNA was recovered from the blood, and from two hats the victim told police were knocked off his assailant’s head during the fight.
Detectives interviewed Blue in June when they came to take a swab sample of his DNA while he was incarcerated at Corrigan Correctional Center in Montville.
Blue claimed one of the detectives interviewing him planted his DNA at the scene, before he “continued to allege that a phlebotomist who took his blood years ago dropped his DNA at the scene via airplane,” according to the warrant.
The state forensic lab later confirmed the DNA recovered from the scene was consistent with Blue’s, the warrant said.
Blue has been convicted of several felonies in Connecticut, including second-degree robbery, first degree escape and first degree harassment, according to the warrant.
He was held in lieu of $250,000 bond and appeared in court Friday for his arraignment. He is due back in New London court Oct. 30 and is also facing robbery and assault charges stemming from an arrest in Norwich in April this year.