VATTORTON, KN – A UPS employee accused police of fatally assaulting a colleague who was helping deliver a package, according to an arrest warrant issued Thursday. He stabbed the man before fleeing into the woods.
Elijah David Bertrand, 19, of Bristol, was taken into custody at a gas station in Plymouth by state goers on Wednesday afternoon.
“Why did you go so far to find me?” Bristol asked officials about the warrant posted online by Waterbury Republican-American.
Waterbury UPS driver Nathan Burke, 28, was charged Thursday with the murder of Bertrand. The arrest warrant said Bertrand was working as Burke’s “helper” on Tuesday, the day of the attack.
One purpose remains unclear.
WTNH-TV reported that a bond of $ 2 million was held for Bertrand. His attorney, Robert Pickering, asked if the bond should be reduced, arguing that Bertrand is not at risk of flight and has a strong connection to the state. Batrand is scheduled to appear in court again on January 6.
Pickering told the Associated Press that the case was “a terrible thing for all parties involved”, especially considering that it happened just before Christmas and during the coronavirus epidemic.
“My customer’s family’s sympathy, it’s unbelievable,” he said. “Whether my client is responsible for this or not, this young man should never have died during the holiday season.”
Bertrand and Burke were apparently riding in the same vehicle, State Trooper Jozu Dorels said at a news conference Wednesday. According to the arrest warrant, the pair stayed at Burke’s girlfriend’s house and had dinner, staying for about an hour before turning into a UPS truck.
Burke’s girlfriend started calling her boyfriend about half an hour later, expecting that he would be back home by then as the house is close to the UPS warehouse. But the call went unanswered, the warrant said.
UPS in Watertown on Tuesday evening. The troopers initially reacted to the accident involving the truck. They found the vehicle in the north shoulder of Route 8, Burke was reactive and slipped from the steering wheel, with stab wounds.
The warrant states that he had a blood-stained style knife on him, which was later confirmed by Bertrand’s father to the police that it belonged to his son, the warrant said. Waterbury State Attorney Maureen Plot told the court that Burke was attacked eight times.
Burke was taken to hospital and pronounced dead.
Dozens of Burke’s loved ones and colleagues gathered outside the Watertown UPS facility. Some told NBC Connecticut they wanted answers.
“He’s just heartbreaking. We just want to know why this happened to him? He was a very good soul,” Carrie Langdeau of Waterbury told the TV station.
“I woke up in the morning. Probably was ready to deliver 200 packages and go home, and never make it home, “said Sean O’Brien, secretary treasurer of the Tamsters Joint Council 10, a trade union representing drivers in New England.
