Lisa Backus
Connecticut Post, Bridgeport
(TNS)
Apr. 6—NEW BRITAIN — A Connecticut EMT accused of kidnapping a female co-worker he previously dated had his charges upgraded in connection with an incident in 2019 when police say he tried to force his way into the home of a former girlfriend he had abused.
During a brief appearance in state Superior Court in New Britain Thursday morning, a prosecutor from the Chief State's Attorney's Office increased the 2019 charges for Bradley Doyle to include attempted first-degree burglary, first-degree threatening and second-degree threatening. The new charges replaced the original offenses that included attempted second-degree burglary, disorderly conduct and making a false statement.
Through his attorney, Doyle pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, including the new additions in the 2019 case and four other cases related to the February kidnapping.
"It's nice that it's coming to an end," said one of several family members of the 2019 victim who attended the court hearing.
The family was pleased that a prosecutor had increased the charges. The family said they felt the case had dragged on for so long because of COVID and since the cases were transferred due to a conflict of interest Doyle has in New Haven Superior Court.
A judge agreed Thursday to increase Doyle's bond in a few of his cases by $100 each so he could get credit for time served while he is incarcerated.
His attorney Ed Gavin, who requested a June 6 court date for his client's next appearance, characterized the new charges as "minor" and said he would need to review police reports before discussing the case in court.
"This is still very early in the process," Gavin said.
In interviews with investigators, the woman, who is now 21, described how Doyle beat her and controlled their relationship before he tried to barge into her family's Wallingford home in a 2019 incident that scared her father so much that he now sleeps with a knife beside his bed, according to court documents.
Doyle was "smiling" and carrying a knife and gun when he tried forcing his way into the home, court documents said. He fled when the girl's father was able to slam the door shut and the family called police, according to the documents. Court documents filed in February 2022 by Senior Assistant State's Attorney Christopher Alexy, of the Office of the Chief State's Attorney who is prosecuting the cases, said Doyle had threatened to kill the woman while they were dating.
The woman said Doyle, 22, had a "list" of rules that included "no leggings" and "no skirts" that he forced her to follow, court documents show.
Doyle, of Milford, is being held on $1 million bond on charges related to a February incident involving another woman. Police said Doyle, an EMT at American Medical Response, kidnapped and carjacked a co-worker he previously dated at gunpoint outside the Bridgeport facility on Feb. 23. AMR said Doyle was suspended after the February incident, but has not responded to questions about whether the company was aware of his 2019 arrest.
An incident report shows Doyle led Connecticut State Police troopers on a chase in the kidnapped woman's car through several towns before he was apprehended about an hour away in Haddam. The woman was not harmed and police said they recovered a gun Doyle ditched along the way.
Hours after his arrest, a New Britain Superior Court judge reiterated his opposition to Doyle's requests for a diversionary program that could dismiss the charges in the Wallingford case.
The appearance on Thursday was the first time Doyle faced a judge on all five of his pending cases, including four he racked up during the February incident.
Doyle had been free on bond for the Wallingford case when the Bridgeport incident occurred, court records show. His female co-worker had broken up with him months earlier, but he was continuing to harass her at work, according to state police reports. She had a male friend meet her at the Bridgeport facility to make sure she wouldn't have any interaction with Doyle when she left her shift in the early-morning hours of Feb. 23, she told police, according to court documents.
The friend tried to prevent Doyle from kidnapping the woman and alerted police to the incident, court documents show. Doyle was carrying a BB gun, handcuffs, pepper spray, knife, duct tape, cable ties and an 8-foot length of rope, according to an arrest warrant.
The woman told police that two months before the February incident, Doyle held her at knifepoint and forced her to drive around Bridgeport, according to court documents. Doyle then locked the woman in his room, court documents stated. The woman's sister eventually contacted Doyle's mother who helped her escape, court documents show.
The woman told investigators that his mother begged her to not tell police that he held her captive because "it would ruin Bradley Doyle's life," arrest warrants said.
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