MANCHESTER, Conn. — Police have arrested two men Monday afternoon in an alleged racially-charged attack.
Two teens told officers they were riding their bicycles early Sunday morning in the area of Main Street. The three teens were riding their bikes and were being followed by two men in a vehicle.
At one point, the vehicle was said to have driven the teens off the road near Main Street and Middle Turnpike East. The vehicle was said to have almost struck one of the them. One of the men who had yelled racial slurs got out of the vehicle and chased the teens. He then took a bike that was dropped by a juvenile. No one was physically hurt in the incident.
Police were able to find the vehicle in a driveway on Main Street. The officers knocked on the door of the home but no one answered it. After an investigation, the two men who live in the Main Street home were identified as 27-year-old Matthew and 28-year-old Michael Lemelin. The men were arrested Monday afternoon in connection to the incident.
Matthew is facing several charges including intimidation based on bigotry or bias in the second degree and risk of injury to a minor. Michael is also facing risk of injury to a child as well as reckless endangerment in the second degree.
Two men arrested, accused of hate crime, theft & intimidation in Manchester
Both men were held on bond and are scheduled to appear in court on August 18.
Connecticut has seen a recent uptick of hate crimes arrests in the area. A man was also arrested on Monday involving an incident in Bloomfield where a Black woman and her child were called a racial slur.