Letters To The Editor
By Ashleyann Garcia Castillo
Stratford High School
The Connecticut Post Mall located in Milford, Connecticut has established a new policy that applies to everyone under the age of 18. That policy requires that anyone under the age of 18 is to be supervised by an adult 21 or older. This policy is to be fully in effect until January 1st, 2023 from 4 p.m. to the mall’s closing time. That’s not all. They also require proof of age from the youth and the adults that are there to supervise. If this policy sounds familiar, well it is because this is not the first time that this policy was used in the infamous Connecticut Post Mall.
The Connecticut Post Mall gained its infamous reputation from the ongoing surge of fights that go on between teenagers therefore being the reason behind this policy, in December of 2018 to 2019, for the first time, The Connecticut Post Mall Management announced that they were going to enforce a parental escort policy from 3 p.m. to closing time. As mentioned before, they also made it a requirement for the Adults to supervise the youth. Without adults, teens cannot enter the mall. Another brawl led to the closing of The Connecticut Post Mall at 6 p.m. on December 26, 2019 after they called for backup from the Connecticut State Police, police units from Stratford and West Haven in order to restore order on mall property.
These brawls not only take place in The Milford Mall but they also take place in Trumbull Mall. Trumbull Mall is also known for its fight clubs but they aren’t mentioned as much. Maybe it’s because they follow the only rule of Fight Club, which is to not speak about Fight Club. On September 21, 2022 in Trumbull Mall, 6 men were arrested after a fight that broke out on that Tuesday afternoon. According to the Police, The men in question went by the name Pedro Diamond (age 22), Chase Dralle (age 19), Jeremy Romero (age 23), Tremayne Ferguson (age 21), Derrick Rivera (age 18) and Isaiah Johnson (age 22). Each of them except for Rivera were charged with Breach of Peace and were held on a $500 bond. Rivera was arrested and charged with First – degree threatening, reckless endangerment, carrying a pistol with no permit, and breach of peace. Rivera was then issued an infraction for the possession of marijuana. He was held on a much bigger bond of $10,000. Rivera was also scheduled to appear in the Bridgeport Superior Court on September 30th. As of now, I couldn’t find much information on the Court Case.
Police also mentioned that they were called to the mall shortly before 4 p.m. on that Tuesday for what was initially an armed robbery that involved a gun. Officers then learned that a group of men participated in a brawl where they attacked one man who then took out a gun and pointed it to his attackers. The police then continued by saying that all the men scattered around the area before they were to arrive. When the officers took the 6 suspects into custody as they tried to leave the premises, they said that they recovered a fanny pack that was discarded by Rivera and it contained a loaded .22 caliber pistol and a bag of marijuana.
This goes on to show that teens aren’t the issue. Even though this altercation did not happen in Milford Mall it does show how teens are not the only ones causing a ruckus in Malls.
So with all the information we touched on, I can now give my opinion on the Mall Policy. To get into the mall, now you need to show identification to show that you are not under the age. But with what we learned about Trumbull Mall we can be led to believe that it could happen in Milford as well. So age should not be a focus of concern. I think they should take a different approach in preventing these brawls or the malls would literally be known as this generation’s fight club which would attract less people and stores would lose clientele. But the question still remains, How did these fights escalate?
