Pubdate: Sun, 22 Mar 2009
Source: Stamford Advocate, The (CT)
Copyright: 2009 Southern Connecticut Newspaper, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1522
Author: Magdalene Perez
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues)

QUESTIONS ABOUT FAVORITISM, RACISM RAISED IN ARREST OF MAYOR'S SON

STAMFORD -- The barbershop is considered by some to be  the black 
community's forum, and these days,  conversation from the barber's 
chair on the West Side  is about Benjamin Malloy.

After the mayor's 21-year-old son was arrested in an  attempted 
robbery in wealthy, largely white Darien,  Stamford's black community 
has been abuzz with  speculation about whether Malloy will get off 
lightly  for the alleged crimes because of his father's  prominent 
political position.

"They're saying if that had been anybody but the  mayor's son, they 
would have thrown the book at him,"  said Tommy Bradford, owner of 
Superior Barber Shop on  West Main Street. "They say, 'Let the boy go 
to jail,  do his time.' "

Darien police charged Malloy on March 4 with criminal  attempt to 
commit first-degree robbery and conspiracy  to commit first-degree 
robbery, both felonies, for what  appeared to be an armed attempt to 
steal marijuana from  Eric Sing, 19, at his Darien home. Two others, 
Michael  Krepak, 20, and a 17-year-old whom police have not  named 
because of his age, also were charged in the  crime.

Malloy turned himself in a day after the alleged  incident after 
learning police had a warrant for his  arrest. He was released on $2,500 bond.

According to an affidavit, Krepak told police the  17-year-old had a 
small black revolver and Malloy had a  BB gun during the alleged 
robbery attempt. A search  warrant executed at Malloy's house turned 
up a BB  pellet in his room, the affidavit states.

It was Malloy's second drug-related arrest in 16  months. In November 
2007, Greenwich police arrested  Malloy after a two-month 
investigation during which  Malloy sold drugs to a wired police 
informant four  times, according to a police report. When he was 
arrested this month, Malloy was in a two-year  probationary program 
that would have cleared several  drug charges from his record.

The most recent arrest came weeks after Dannel Malloy,  a Democrat, 
tentatively entered the race for governor.  In its immediate 
aftermath, Malloy's political  opponents have been sympathetic in 
their public  statements. Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, 
who, according to polls, may be Malloy's toughest  Democratic 
contender for the party's nomination, said  earlier this month: "My 
heart goes out to the Malloy  family. It's a family matter; it 
shouldn't be a part of  the campaign."

Malloy has said his son's actions cannot be excused,  but he placed 
them in the context of emotional illness  and drug addiction. In an 
interview with The New York  Times, Malloy said hundreds of 
constituents have called  or written to offer support.

Reached through an aide Saturday, Dannel Malloy  declined to comment.

But some area residents say the arrest cannot be viewed  outside of 
race and politics. In the blogosphere, some  have wondered whether 
the public reaction to Benjamin  Malloy's crime would have been less 
sympathetic if the  three young men had skin of a different color. 
All three are white, according to police.

"Why is it when black people do something it's one  thing, but when 
whites do it, just as Betty Ford  becoming an alcoholic, it's an 
epidemic, and they open  a clinic after her?" said an anonymous 
comment from  someone who identified herself only as "A Black Woman 
who knows" on the Web site of the Norwalk Hour.

Asked whether the public discourse surrounding Malloy's  arrest has 
been racially biased, Norwalk NAACP  President Lindsay Curtis said he 
would like to believe  public perception and judicial treatment would 
be the  same regardless of race but said the historic record  has 
proven otherwise.

"If the perpetrator were black or a minority, there  would be less 
concern about the perpetrator," Curtis  said. "I don't think that 
that's a stretch; I think  that's the reality."

Sing initially reported to police the attempted robbers  were white 
or Hispanic. The latter description was just  one inaccuracy in 
Sing's initial report, in which he  also claimed the attempted 
robbery was a home invasion.  Sing later withdrew that claim.

Galindo Velasco, president and founder of the Latino  Foundation of 
Stamford, said there has been less  discussion about Benjamin 
Malloy's arrest in the city's  Hispanic communities. But he did not 
hesitate to predict how a similar case would be handled if 
Hispanic  men had been the perpetrators.

"They would go straight to jail," Velasco said. "As  newcomers, 
Hispanics are usually not very welcome. It  doesn't matter if it's a 
good guy or a bad guy, they  are judged by the cover of the book and 
not the  content."

Stamford NAACP President Jack Bryant said several  members of the 
black community have stopped him in the  street to express their 
desire for the civil rights  organization to follow the case closely 
to ensure the  mayor's son does not receive special treatment. Bryant 
said the people seemed worried about political  favoritism rather 
than racial bias.

"Their concern is that it's the mayor's son," Bryant  said. "It's my 
hope that the judges do the right thing  so we won't have to get involved."

Even as the black community debates Malloy's arrest in  barbershops 
and elsewhere, Bryant and other black  leaders emphasized their 
personal empathy for the  Malloy family. Newly elected state Rep. 
Patricia Billie  Miller, D-Stamford, said she prays the family "will 
get  through this."

"I think that people put themselves in Dan's position,  and they say, 
'That could be my child,' " Miller said.  "It could happen to any of us."
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