Court Records Show Steven Ellam’s Violent Past Leading Up To Middlesex Hospital Crash
Ellam, 27, had been arrested and convicted multiple times in cases that included violent assaults and choking. He served prison time, and two years ago was ordered to undergo inpatient treatment at
But, more recently, Ellam was known locally as a much different man.
In the past year, he had worked in a busy downtown
On
After a 2016 assault conviction that required counseling as a condition of his probation, it appeared he was staying out of trouble. A
But on Wednesday he abruptly quit his dishwashing job at Illiano's Ristorante, and on Thursday was involved in the chaotic event at
Officials said Ellam crashed his car through the sliding glass doors of the emergency room at
Authorities have yet to publicly sat what motivated the incident, which caused relatively minor damage to the hospital.
Only one other person was injured: A security guard who was evacuating people from the emergency room was treated for smoke inhalation, hospital Vice President of Operations
Ellam streamed his drive to the hospital on Facebook Live. In video that has now been widely shared, a naked Ellam rants about the "illuminati," calls out President
The video doesn't show Ellam lighting himself on fire, but he can be heard yelling "save me" as flames fill the screen.
Court records dating back to
Twice, victims told police that they feared Ellam would kill them. Once in 2013, court records show, he wrapped plastic bags around a woman's head while he was drunk and high on synthetic marijuana.
The woman told police that day in
In a 2012 attack, Ellam, who was drunk, wrapped his hands around his father's neck while saying: "I will [expletive] kill you. I will [expletive] kill you." His father told police that Ellam had threatened to kill him in the past and he was very fearful.
Ellam had feuded with his father in 2010 when confronted about drinking, records said. Ellam punched his father in the head repeatedly before family members called 911.
Despite the record of arrests, his former bosses said Friday that they were shocked to hear Ellam named by police as the source of the chaos at the hospital.
Illiano's Ristorante owner
"He came in looking for a job and I said, 'You're in the right place at the right time; I'm hiring,'" Scileppi said Friday. "He stayed late when he needed to, he asked for more hours often. I don't like to judge anyone. When he was here there was never a problem."
"He actually was a good guy," Conley said. "What he did was criminal, but that's not the whole issue."
She said she knew Ellam had challenges to overcome when he began working in the bakery, but while he was on the job there, he did well.
"He did his work. He came in and he was a team player. We never had an issue," Conley said. "We knew who he was when we hired him."
Ellam unexpectedly quit his pizzeria job by text message on Wednesday. "It was abrupt. He just said, 'I can't work anymore and don't worry about my last paycheck,'" Scileppi said. "I saw no reason whatsoever."
Police used a search warrant at Ellam's home on
"This is, as far as I'm concerned, tragic and completely uncharacteristic of who I knew him to be," said Attorney
He told Hush he preferred the spelling
"He was offering help. A slender young man with dark hair, passionate and enthusiastic, he knew how to bake berry pies. He wanted to fund raise for us by baking these pies," Hush wrote in a letter he sent to The Courant. "He wanted to be a partner in our project to raise up a new place, the
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