Man With Violent Criminal Past Slams Car Into Middlesex Hospital Entrance, Sets Himself On Fire
February 23, 2018 by admin
Filed under Choosing Lingerie
Steven Ellam, a Middletown man with a violent criminal history dating back more than a decade, intentionally rammed his car through the emergency room entrance at Middlesex Hospital Thursday morning before setting himself on fire, officials said. They did not say what motivated his act.
Ellam, 27, lives at 66 Milardo Lane, where federal, state and local authorities went to search for explosives and other evidence, officials said, as concerned neighbors looked on.
“This is a precautionary measure,” Mayor Dan Drew said at an afternoon press conference.
About 10 a.m., Ellam crashed his Chevrolet Cobalt through the emergency room entrance doors of the hospital at 28 Crescent St., then doused himself in a liquid and ignited himself, said Police Chief William McKenna. In video shared with The Courant by a witness, smoke and flames can be seen billowing out of the emergency entrance as medical staff rush to help Ellam, who is on the sidewalk, outside the doors.
The fire prompted an extensive response from city firefighters and police. Ellam was flown by Life Star helicopter to Bridgeport Hospital, but officials said they did not know his condition as of Thursday evening.
Bomb squads from Hartford and state police converged on the hospital and searched the car, finding cans with flammable liquid inside, Drew said. The liquids were sent to the state forensic lab for testing.
Officials said Ellam’s act was intentional, but said late Thursday that they could not yet comment on a motive. When asked if it was an act of terrorism, Drew declined to comment.
A hospital security guard was hospitalized for smoke inhalation while evacuating patients and staff following the crash, said Middlesex Vice President of Operations David Giuffrida. No other injuries were reported.
The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the scene. FBI New Haven Division Chief Patricia Ferrick said: “The FBI is assisting local law enforcement with this unfolding investigation at Middlesex Hospital.”
Drew said the city increased security at public facilities, including schools, but only as a precaution.
“I want to make clear that the people of Middletown are safe, we believe this was an isolated incident and we believe that there is no threat to the community,” Drew said at the press conference.
Middletown police Capt. Gary Wallace said officers made an initial sweep of Ellam’s Milardo Lane home to determine if anyone else was in danger, but then left the house to obtain a search warrant for a further probe.
Ellam has an extensive criminal history that began when he was 14, Wallace said.
According to Connecticut’s criminal convictions database, Ellam was sentenced to 33 months in prison for an attack on a woman in June 2013 in Middletown. He pleaded guilty to first-degree strangulation, interfering with police officers and violating probation. Middletown police said at the time that Ellam accused the woman of having sinned, and that he told her she would have to repent. Police said the badly beaten woman was able to call 911.
In 2010, Ellam was charged with assaulting his father, who had confronted him over his drinking, police said. Records show he has additional arrests for assault, a hit-and-run car accident and drunken driving.
A LinkedIn profile for a Middletown man named Steven Ellam reads a job title of “Butcher of souls at Earth/Hell/everywhere in the galaxy.”
Thursday’s crash sent patients and staff members scrambling for safety. Hospital officials said there were about 30 patients and 20 staff members in the emergency room area at the time.
T.J. O’Brien of Northford said he arrived at the hospital for an appointment at about 10 a.m., minutes after the crash.
“About a minute after that, someone came running out of the fire in his birthday suit screaming ‘Oh my God,’” O’Brien said.
Lindsey Heidel and Ali Mielczarski were nearby when news spread of the incident. The two live nearby and came to see the scene.
“We didn’t believe it at first,” Heidel said. “This is just insane. You don’t expect it from anyone.”
Heidel said a friend of hers was leaving the hospital just minutes before the car rammed into the emergency department entrance. Mielczarski said her aunt works in the hospital but was not hurt.
“She’s worked here for 35 years. She’s probably shocked,” Mielczarski said.
On Milardo Lane, residents said the presence of police at their neighbor’s home was unsettling.
Not long after the car crashed into the hospital, Bill Wilson, who parked his car on Milardo Lane midday Thursday, got a text from his sister, who worked there. She said: “I am just giving you a heads-up. I’m OK.”
Soon Wilson heard from his friend, who lives on Milardo Lane, about a police presence and said he could go over to check it out. “I am going to stop by to see everything is OK. That’s when I saw everyone,” Wilson said of the local, state and federal investigators.
“We knew the person who lived in the house. We didn’t know any younger person [there],” Wilson said. “[My friend’s] concern was something bad would happen and his kid is getting out of school soon. … That was their worry.”
In this secluded residential area, Wilson said: “You don’t expect this. I didn’t expect this.”
Lou DiMauro has lived several houses down on Milardo Lane for 10 years and knew the owner well, recalling block parties at the home. But that man moved to Florida about six years ago. In the times since, he said a son or grandson of the owner had moved in. “I saw him out there cutting the grass a few times, but that’s it,” DiMauro said.
“Very quiet, very quiet,” DiMauro said of the man living in the home. “The whole neighborhood is quiet.”
DiMauro, standing on his deck looking out at the investigators, said: “You just don’t know anymore. It’s just the way it is.”
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Hartford HealthCare increased security at its emergency departments as a precaution, spokesperson Shawn Mawhiney said in a statement.
He said MidState Medical Center, both campuses of the Hospital of Central Connecticut and Hartford Hospital are accepting patients while the Middlesex Hospital emergency room is closed.
Middlesex Hospital officials said it would be closed until further notice. They have barred patient visitation unless under special circumstances and canceled all non-emergent surgeries on Friday. People should not come to the hospital for tests, either, they said.
