Naugatuck man charged with St. Patrick’s Day stabbing

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Stephen Sorriero

NAUGATUCK — Police arrested a 26-year-old borough man last week on charges he attacked two people during a brawl on the Maple Street bridge in the early morning hours of St. Patrick’s Day.

Stephen Sorriero, of 28 Olive St., was arrested at his home Thursday afternoon and charged with two counts of first-degree assault in connection with the March stabbing.

Police say Sorriero was leaving Duffy’s Tavern with at least three other men after 2 a.m. when another group of at least three men walked by on their way home from Sullivan’s Cafe, another Irish bar downtown, said Officer Michael Favale of the Naugatuck Police Department.

Sorriero, who also goes by the name “Dwyer,” and his friends started shouting at the group from Sullivan’s, which included a 37-year-old borough man, who told police a can or bottle was thrown at him. The man said he continued to walk home, but Sorriero chased him onto the bridge and stabbed him in the back, Favale said.

Police were given various accounts from witnesses about what happened on the bridge.
In the altercation, one of the men was stabbed in the back, a wound that was about 4-inches deep, but missed his vital organs. Another man was gashed in the ribs during the attack, according to Sorriero’s arrest warrant.

The man with the stab wound called police at least an hour later, while he was sitting and bleeding on the steps of a Carroll Street home, Favale said. He then went to Waterbury Hospital, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Favale said.

The two groups of men did not know each other, and it is unclear how the altercation began or what it was about, Favale said. Sorriero is a self-proclaimed white supremacist, but all the men involved were white, Favale said. All of the men seemed to be intoxicated, Favale said.

Police also met with an FBI agent and a New London probation officer to discuss a man who was with Sorriero that night. That man, who was not arrested last week, was described as a white supremacist by the probation officer, according to Sorriero’s arrest warrant.

Witnesses told police that the group Sorreiro was with drank shots at Cook’s Cafe earlier in the night. At least one of the group members shouted “white power” as a black bar patron was nearby, a witness told police. A witness also told police one of the men was wearing a black jacket with what appeared to be a swastika on it.

That statement led to the men and at least one woman being tossed out of the bar, according to Sorriero’s arrest warrant.

The type of knife used in the stabbing remains unclear, as the blade was never recovered, Favale said. Police continue to investigate the incident and could make further arrests.

Sorriero appeared Monday in Waterbury Superior Court. He was held on a $75,000 bond and is due back in court on May 2.

Sorriero has been convicted of selling drugs, burglary and some misdemeanors, based on court records. He was charged last year with assaulting a man, who was later hospitalized, at Bar and Grill on Rubber Avenue.