Stratford Man Threatened To Kill 4-Year-old During Robbery Attempt: Police

A Stratford man who Stamford Police say threatened to kill a 4-year-old during an attempted robbery of the child’s mother is in police custody after he led police on a wild chase through the West Side of Stamford.

The suspect was identified after he was recognized in a security surveillance video that was released by Stamford Police following the Oct. 17 incident, according to Police Capt. Richard Conklin. The mother and child were exiting the woman’s car at 712 Pacific St. about 8:30 p.m. Oct. 17 to attend a cancer charity event “when the suspect comes up with a handgun in an attempt to rob them.”

Conklin said, “It was a very traumatic experience for the mother seeing a gun pointed at her son’s head.” It just so happened that a Good Samaritan witnessed what was occurring from across the street, and yelled out to the suspect.

“As the suspect turned and looked, the mother pushes him and he drops the handgun. He picked up the handgun and runs, shedding some of the distinctive clothing he was wearing,” Conklin said Monday. Police were able to find security camera surveillance with the suspect as well as security video from the Stamford Train Station that showed the suspect riding a bike to the station and boarding a train to Bridgeport. Video from the Bridgeport station showed the suspect exit the train with bicycle and wearing the clothes he took off during his initial escape in Stamford, Conklin said.

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Police received several tips on the suspect’s identity after releasing the video a week later and were able to gather enough evidence to obtain an arrest warrant for Christopher ‘Chris’ Smith, 44, of Stratford, according to Conklin.

Police got a break in the case about 1:15 on Friday afternoon when off-duty Police Officer Norris Clark recognized Smith as the driver of a large pickup hauling a trailer laden with landscaping equipment that passed Clark who was working an extra-duty job on West Main Street.

“He has his police radio and calls in that he has seen Smith. He runs to his personal vehicle and follows the truck,” Conklin said.”While he strategically maneuvered his own vehicle through traffic on West Avenue and to Stillwater Avenue, he is updating headquarters to their location. Many other officers converge and they attempt to pull over the truck on Westover Road,” Conklin said.

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At that point, Smith “engages the officers in a pursuit. He went off the road through some large yards on Westover with the police officers following. It was quite the parade,” Conklin said.

Meanwhile, the passenger in the truck, the landscaping business owner’s son, tries to wrestle control of the vehicle from Smith. At that point, “police cars had him boxed in in a yard. Smith jumps from the vehicle and runs into the woods where he was captured,” Conklin said.

Smith was arrested on charges of criminal attempt at first-degree robbery, criminal possession of a firearm, first-degree threatening and risk of injury to a minor. During his arraignment Monday morning, the court ordered his bond set at $200,000 cash, Conklin said. The court also ordered a $50,000 bond on interfering with police and engaging police in a pursuit charges.

“We were very lucky that nobody got hurt with such a large rig” speeding through the West side of the city, Conklin added. Conklin also credited Clark as well as investigators Sgt. Paul Guzda and Michael Franzetti for their work on the case that led to Smith’s arrest.

Smith is scheduled to return to court Jan. 4.

Stamford Police photo: Christopher ‘Chris’ Smith.