Worst Romantic Date in Norwalk; Young Woman Robbed in SoNo; Police Lobby Disturbance

The course of true love never did run smoothly, and on the weekend before Valentine's Day it (if it even was true love in this case) took a particularly bumpy course for one couple who had an unsweet parting.

At 2:31 a.m. Sunday, were called to 29 Van Buren St. in response to a report of an assault and disturbance. Police gave this account of what happened and what they were told:

When police arrived, they were told that the couple had returned to Norwalk after spending the evening having dinner at a restaurant in New York City, then had gotten into a dispute. The woman who made the original report denied that she had been hit, as the original report had stated. Instead, she told police, she had just been  in a verbal argument with her boyfriend, who would not return her car keys to her.

The boyfriend returned her keys to her.

The woman told police she did not want to see him any more.

Police told the now ex-boyfriend that they would arrest him if he had any contact with her again.

Robbery near the South Norwalk Metro-North station

A Fairfield woman reported a purse-snatching early Sunday morning near the police station. Police reported the following account:

Shortly before 2:08 a.m., a group of women walked from the Black Bear Saloon to the South Norwalk train station. As they were passing Norwalk Police headquarters at 1 Monroe St., they met a man who walked with them a bit as they carried on a conversation with him.

One young woman, a 21-year-old Sacred Heart University student, fell behind the group and started walking toward the New Haven-bound side of the station. The man walked with her.

When the two got to the intersection of the access road and Monroe Street, the man suddenly grabbed her black Coach clutch bag and ran off with it, back toward the police station. He turned right onto Chestnut Street before the woman lost sight of him.

The man was described to police as a 40- to 50-year-old black man, about six feet tall, weighing about 160 to 170 pounds, with a goatee and wearing a black jacket.

The bag, worth about $100, contained the woman's dormitory room key, her Blackberry cell phone and a Bank of America debit card.

She reported the incident at the Police headquarters and was given a courtesy ride to Fairfield by Metro-North Rail Road.

Disturbance at Police Department

Norwalk police described an incident with a Stamford man at 3 a.m. Sunday this way:

Early on Sunday morning, Eric MacDuff, 45, of 1042 Shippan Ave. in Stamford came into the Police Department lobby staggering, with bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. He interrupted a woman who was asking a police officer about paperwork in order to bond out a prisoner and, with his face inches away from the thick glass separating him from the desk officer, started yelling at that officer.

MacDuff appeared to be angry that a woman had not been bonded out after, he said, the desk officer had told him that would happen, and he accused the desk officer of lying to him. The desk officer told MacDuff that he would have to bond the woman out if he wanted her released. MacDuff again cursed at the officer, who then told him to leave the lobby.

MacDuff began using racial epithets directed at other police officers present. Police noticed a pronounced odor of alcohol emanating from MacDuff's mouth, in addition to the curses and racial epithets.

One police officer forcibly escorted MacDuff outside as two others followed. MacDuff fell to the ground outside and was ordered to get up, rather than lay on the ground, and immediately leave. He said he would, but didn't move. Police decided to arrest him on trespassing and other charges. When MacDuff learned of that decision, he got up, told police they couldn't catch him, and ended his sentence with two disparaging words to a black officer about his body size and racial background.

A foot chase ensued north on South Main Street and onto Elizabeth Street where MacDuff was tackled, arrested and then brought back to headquarters. During the arrest process, MacDuff began engaging a fellow arrestee, a black woman, in a heated conversation about his racially tinged language. Police separated the two by moving him into a cell and arranging to have the two processed for arrest separately.

MacDuff was charged with first-degree criminal trespass, interfering with a police officer, and breach of peace.

At one point, MacDuff turned to a black police officer and said, "Hey, relax bro."

The officer advised MacDuff that he was not his "bro."