Court Records Show Steven Ellam’s Violent Past Leading Up To Middlesex Hospital Crash

Feb. 23--Steven Ellam had built up a history of violence in the years before he allegedly rammed his car through the emergency room doors at Middlesex Hospital and set himself on fire in the lobby.

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 Connecticut Valley Hospital.

But, more recently, Ellam was known locally as a much different man.

In the past year, he had worked in a busy downtown Middletown coffee shop and a popular Italian restaurant.

On Feb. 1, he attended a meeting of a grassroots group that was working on a plan for a new community center in Middletown's North End. There, he offered to bake blueberry pies and wanted to hand-carve and donate a chess board for the neighborhood.

After a 2016 assault conviction that required counseling as a condition of his probation, it appeared he was staying out of trouble. A Superior Court judge in January granted Ellam's request to modify his probation to let him use medical marijuana for what he called "my P.T.S.D., insomnia and mood problems," court records said. Ellam told the judge that he was "already accepted" to the program and that he was "told to take any medications prescribed."

But on Wednesday he abruptly quit his dishwashing job at Illiano's Ristorante, and on Thursday was involved in the chaotic event at Middlesex Hospital that has left him critical condition in the burn unit at Bridgeport Hospital. He has not yet been arrested or charged.

Officials said Ellam crashed his car through the sliding glass doors of the emergency room at 9:58 a.m. Thursday. He got out of the car, doused himself in a flammable liquid and set himself on fire, Mayor Daniel Drew said on Thursday. The car, which had several gasoline cans inside, burned briefly as smoke billowed out of the hospital's front door.

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 David Giuffrida said.

Middletown police, assisted by state and federal agencies, continued to investigate the incident on Friday, but said they are confident that Ellam acted alone and that there is no threat to the public.

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 Donald Trump and refers to himself as Jesus Christ.

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 January 2010 outline at least four incidents of violence, some involving his family.

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 June 2013 that Ellam said to her: "You have sinned and now you have to repent, you are going to die." He then attacked her, and while he choked her, she played dead, but Ellam said: "I know you're not dead yet," records said.

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 Vinnie Scileppi said Ellam worked as a dishwasher in the restaurant for about nine months and was a "model employee." He was mostly quiet, but sometimes talked about opening a coffee shop and chatted with the other employees about music.

"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."

Laura Conley, the owner of Sweet Harmony Bakery, described Ellam as an attentive employee.

"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 Milardo Lane Thursday night. Sources said no weapons or explosives were found there.

"This is, as far as I'm concerned, tragic and completely uncharacteristic of who I knew him to be," said Attorney Michael Dwyer, who represented Ellam in the 2016 case. "As far as I know, he was back in society and successful."

Jeff Hush, chairman of the Middletown Green Community Center, said Ellam came up to him after a meeting Feb. 1 at Russell Library. The group is working to propose a new use for the now-closed Green Street Arts Center, and Ellam wanted to get involved.

He told Hush he preferred the spelling Steeve Elam, but Hush "didn't know him long enough to find out why."

"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 Middletown Green Community Center, on the ashes of the old place dying out."

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