Mystic

911 Calls Released From Attack On Mystic Hotel Worker

It has been nearly two weeks since Crystal Caldwell, a Mystic hotel worker, said she was assaulted and called a racial slur by two hotel guests.

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The Stonington Police Department released the audio recordings of two 911 calls that they received about an assault at a Mystic hotel nearly two weeks ago. Police are still searching for the two people accused of attacking Crystal Caldwell, a 59-year-old hotel worker.

According to the recordings, the first call came from a colleague of Crystal Caldwell at the Quality Inn in Mystic. The woman tells a dispatcher that a guest was "beating up on my desk clerk." She goes on to add, "he is smacking my desk clerk around." Another voice is heard in the background of the call saying, "I want him arrested now."

Moments after receiving that call, dispatchers received another call. One of the hotel guests involved in the assault, who has now been identified as a suspect, called police and said, "I was just assaulted by staff." A dispatcher asks how he was assaulted. He replies, "punching my head... It is on camera."

After that call, and as police were on their way to the hotel, the man and the woman he was with were spotted on hotel surveillance video physically assaulting Caldwell for the second time.

The video shows Caldwell getting punched and thrown to the ground. She said that she was not only physically injured, but that the couple also used a racial slur against her.

"When he was stomping me and the girl stopped she said, 'the monkey has had enough,' and then he was calling me a monkey when he was hitting me on the first attack," said Caldwell. "Every second, every minute I could see his foot just coming and stomping me. There is no downtime from it right now mentally."

Police have since issued arrest warrants for the two hotel guests involved in the assault. Philip Sarner and Emily Orbay have no permanent addresses, according to police, but are believed to be from Nassau County in New York. Stonington Police say they are working alongside other law enforcement agencies to find Sarner and Orbay.

According to Caldwell, the incident began over a complaint about hot water. She told NBC Connecticut that the guests were rude on the phone and she hung up. Caldwell said that the next thing she can remember is getting attacked.

"There's no need for what happened to me, to get physically harmed at my age, no need," Caldwell said.

After the incident, all three people were taken to local hospitals for treatment. Police said they were unable to monitor the couple due to COVID-19 restrictions. While police said they wanted to arrest the couple on the day of the attack, the couple returned to the hotel from the hospital, got in their car and left the state.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Stonington Police Department.

People are organizing a 'Justice For Crystal' rally Saturday outside of the Stonington Police Department.

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