Three relatives — one from Vermont, another from Texas and a third from Missouri — received misdemeanor summonses to appear in court after they fought, in one case by swinging a pan at another person’s head, police said.
The following account from police includes accusations not proven in court:
Police were called to the house, somewhere in Darien at 9:17 p.m. on Christmas Eve, when plenty of people were stirring. One 57-year-old man from Richardson, Texas was charged with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor; a 54-year-old man with the same last name from Milton, Vermont got an identical charge.
A 22-year-old woman, also with the same last name, from Kansas City, Missouri, was charged with both disorderly conduct and criminal mischief. All three were told to appear in court on Dec. 26.
According to an online newspaper report published in 2016, a woman with the same last name and apparently the same birth year, who then lived in Richardson, was a college student charged with shoving, spitting on and trying to kick campus police officers. The officers had gone to a dormitory after the Richardson student, then a 19-year-old sophomore, pulled her college roommate out of bed by her hair.
Although the police announcement names all three people charged (Darienite.com won’t), we can’t tell from the announcement who did what (that’s largely why we won’t name the person accused of wielding the pan).
In any case, the people police spoke with seemed reluctant to discuss the events and might well have been confused about them.
Here’s the full police description of the ruckus, quoted but presented in bullet form as a series of observations because, other than the police investigation, we have only a vague idea what happened, in what chronological order or to whom:
- “Officers were dispatched to a Darien residence for the report of a domestic incident. When they arrived at the residence they observed a male sitting on the front step. The male said he called 9-1-1 when several individuals within the home got into an altercation.
- “The male stated he believed the altercation became physical at some point.
- “Officers made contact with the first individual at the front door, who appeared to be heavily intoxicated. The individual acknowledged there had been an altercation, but blamed the entire thing on one of the other parties. The individual couldn’t explain to the officers what had caused the fight.
- “Officers began to check the residence for the other involved parties. One of the officers found two other involved parties intentionally hiding in a bathroom. When questioned, these individuals acknowledged there had been a physical confrontation but refused to elaborate.
- “One of the parties had a bandage on their forehead, but refused to explain to officers how the injury had occurred. The injured individual would only tell officers that the injury was the result of an accident.
- “Officers located two additional occupants of the household in a second-story bedroom. Both parties appeared to be intoxicated. These individuals stated they had been at a party earlier in the evening, while two of the other individuals had remained at the home.
- “When they returned from the party, within five minutes, several of the individuals became engaged in an argument. The argument became physical, and at one point they had been pushed to the ground while attempting to break up the altercation.
- “One of the individuals admitted to swinging a pan at another individual and striking them in the head.
- They further admitted to damaging property in the bedrooms of two of the other involved individuals.
- “Officers observed what appeared to be fresh blood and scratch marks on the individual as they spoke. The individual admitted they were a result of the altercation, but wouldn’t elaborate.
- “Officers checked the remaining bedrooms and observed broken lamps and other items on the floors. The individual who had sustained the injury to the head was treated by POST53 [Darien EMS-Post 53 staff] and transported to the hospital for further evaluation.”
This article originally was published at 11:11 a.m. The time stamp was changed to organize it within the Darienite.com newsletter.