Beyond the headlines, the men and women of the Manchester Police Department respond to requests from local residents around the clock, with incidents the public may often find valuable or interesting going unnoticed.
In an attempt to help shed a light on those incidents and spur a greater discussion on what’s going on in our neighborhoods across the city, here are a few of those incidents that flew under the radar, as obtained from the Manchester Police Department Records Division. For the Manchester Police Department’s daily logs, which provide the starting point for these reports, click here.
The actual names of individuals and organizations in these stories have not been revealed to protect them from potential harassment, excluding arrests where information is available. Anyone accused of a crime is innocent unless proven guilty by a court of law.
Anyone with additional information on these incidents is welcome to share their accounts of what happened by emailing andy@manchesterinklink.com
Jan. 25, 9:04 a.m. – A woman on Beech Hill Road called the police after her neighbor screamed at her about her music. Police were unable to find the neighbor or get back in touch with the caller.
Jan. 25, 3:12 p.m. – A person told police they saw approximately 30 kids fighting each other near the corner of Beech Street and Hanover Street. The person did not explain what started the fight, only saying that they did not see any weapons.
Police arrived within two minutes and resolved the incident.
Jan. 25, 7:30 p.m. – A man inside a store on Elm Street called police after a confrontation involving firearms. The man overheard a customer using homophobic slurs and asked him to stop. The customer did not stop and then saw that the man had an exposed firearm. The customer then told the man that he too had a firearm and the two people repeated that they had firearms in their possession several times.
The customer was described as skinny, white-skinned with glasses and grey hair in his late 40s.
The man left the store, although it is unclear if he called police during the confrontation or after he left the store. He referred to the incident as a hate crime. It is unclear if the customer directed the comment at the man.
It is also unclear if officers talked to the customer.
Feb. 1, 7:01 a.m. – An employee at a gas station on Elm Street said that he was just hit by a car driving into the gas station.
The vehicle left the scene, it was described as a newer blue Mazda SUV operated by a female driver. Police checked camera footage from the store and opened an investigation of the incident, the employee received medical attention from an ambulance.
Feb. 1, 4:26 p.m. – A customer requested police assistance after she left a piece of paper in her car at an automotive shop and employees of the shop refused to let her get it.
Additional information was not provided.
Feb. 1, 6:18 p.m. – A woman called police driving to Manchester from Boston to report concerns about her son. The son called her from his father’s house on Carroll Street saying the father and son got into a heated argument over stolen money.
The woman was concerned because the son had never asked to leave the father’s house in the past. She said that she was unsure if there were any weapons in the home, but would not be surprised.
Police managed to touch base with the son who said there were no issues. Police also talked to the father.
Approximately an hour later, the son left with the mother for the night with no issues.
Feb. 1, 7:59 p.m. – A woman said that a group of teenagers assaulted and threatened her four-year-old and 12-year-old child inside a store on Lincoln Street.
The teenagers eventually escaped the building, the manager of the store tried to intervene and was punched. The manager told police he was okay.
The woman said that one of the teenagers, a female, had a gun.
Police searched nearby stores for the teenagers, an investigation was opened into the incident.
UPDATE: The woman contacted Manchester Ink Link on Feb. 5 to challenge assertions made by the Manchester Police Department in their Call for Service report. She said that she, and not the manager, was punched. She also said her children were three and 11 years old, not four and 12 years old.
The woman also said that one of the teenagers was later arrested.
Feb. 2, 12:56 a.m. – Police spotted a car with a smashed-out window in a parking lot on Notre Dame Avenue. It was the only car in the lot that was damaged, it was owned by an individual from Chichester.
Police were unable to contact the owner immediately, an investigation into the incident was opened.
March 2, 9:10 p.m. – Police went to the area of Moore Street near Rock Rimmon Park to respond to a report of three white males running out of the woods and driving into a red four-door sedan. Police found a car matching the description on the Bridge Street Bridge shortly afterward and found a firearm in the vehicle.
Police arrested 18-year-old Marcos Antonio Reed-Meza of Manchester after determining that he had fired shots in the woods. He was charged with alleged reckless conduct with a deadly weapon. He was arraigned on a day later at Hillsborough County Superior Court-North.
