Couple busted for beating up Black hotel worker over lack of hot water

After weeks on the lam, the long arm of the law has finally caught up with a Long Island couple suspected of a racially-motivated attack on a Connecticut hotel worker.

Philip Sarner and Emily Orbay were arrested in Brooklyn on Monday by the NYPD and the United States Marshals Service, police said.

Sarner, 39, will be charged with second degree assault, third degree assault and intimidation based on bigotry and bias, according to police. Orbay, 29, will be charged with two counts of third degree assault and intimidation based on bigotry and bias.

Police had been searching for the two suspects in a June 26 attack against Crystal Caldwell, a 59-year-old hotel worker.

According to police records and recordings, the first 911 call came in from one of Caldwell’s colleagues 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 later, dispatchers then received a second call. One of the hotel guests involved in the assault, who has now been identified as one of the suspects, 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 appearing to approach Caldwell for a 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.

Police obtained arrest warrants for Sarner and Orbay but the fact they had no permanent addresses made them hard to locate in the days immediately following the alleged assault, according to police. They are believed to be from Nassau County in Long Island.

Hotel worker Caldwell has since spoken out about her traumatic ordeal. She said the incident began over a complaint about hot water. She said that the guests were rude on the phone and she hung up. Caldwell said that the next thing she can remember is getting attacked.

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.

After allowing the suspects to flee, the Stonington Police Department has now ordered an independent review of the case, according to a report in the Hartford Courant.