QUESTIONS ABOUT FAVORITISM, RACISM RAISED IN ARREST OF MAYOR'S SON

STAMFORD -- The barbershop is considered by some to be the black
community's forum, and these days, conversation from the barber's
chair on the West Side is about Benjamin Malloy.

After the mayor's 21-year-old son was arrested in an attempted
robbery in wealthy, largely white Darien, Stamford's black community
has been abuzz with speculation about whether Malloy will get off
lightly for the alleged crimes because of his father's prominent
political position.

"They're saying if that had been anybody but the mayor's son, they
would have thrown the book at him," said Tommy Bradford, owner of
Superior Barber Shop on West Main Street. "They say, 'Let the boy go
to jail, do his time.' "

Darien police charged Malloy on March 4 with criminal attempt to
commit first-degree robbery and conspiracy to commit first-degree
robbery, both felonies, for what appeared to be an armed attempt to
steal marijuana from Eric Sing, 19, at his Darien home. Two others,
Michael Krepak, 20, and a 17-year-old whom police have not named
because of his age, also were charged in the crime.

Malloy turned himself in a day after the alleged incident after
learning police had a warrant for his arrest. He was released on $2,500 bond.

According to an affidavit, Krepak told police the 17-year-old had a
small black revolver and Malloy had a BB gun during the alleged
robbery attempt. A search warrant executed at Malloy's house turned
up a BB pellet in his room, the affidavit states.

It was Malloy's second drug-related arrest in 16 months. In November
2007, Greenwich police arrested Malloy after a two-month
investigation during which Malloy sold drugs to a wired police
informant four times, according to a police report. When he was
arrested this month, Malloy was in a two-year probationary program
that would have cleared several drug charges from his record.

The most recent arrest came weeks after Dannel Malloy, a Democrat,
tentatively entered the race for governor. In its immediate
aftermath, Malloy's political opponents have been sympathetic in
their public statements. Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz,
who, according to polls, may be Malloy's toughest Democratic
contender for the party's nomination, said earlier this month: "My
heart goes out to the Malloy family. It's a family matter; it
shouldn't be a part of the campaign."

Malloy has said his son's actions cannot be excused, but he placed
them in the context of emotional illness and drug addiction. In an
interview with The New York Times, Malloy said hundreds of
constituents have called or written to offer support.

Reached through an aide Saturday, Dannel Malloy declined to comment.

But some area residents say the arrest cannot be viewed outside of
race and politics. In the blogosphere, some have wondered whether
the public reaction to Benjamin Malloy's crime would have been less
sympathetic if the three young men had skin of a different color.
All three are white, according to police.

"Why is it when black people do something it's one thing, but when
whites do it, just as Betty Ford becoming an alcoholic, it's an
epidemic, and they open a clinic after her?" said an anonymous
comment from someone who identified herself only as "A Black Woman
who knows" on the Web site of the Norwalk Hour.

Asked whether the public discourse surrounding Malloy's arrest has
been racially biased, Norwalk NAACP President Lindsay Curtis said he
would like to believe public perception and judicial treatment would
be the same regardless of race but said the historic record has
proven otherwise.

"If the perpetrator were black or a minority, there would be less
concern about the perpetrator," Curtis said. "I don't think that
that's a stretch; I think that's the reality."

Sing initially reported to police the attempted robbers were white
or Hispanic. The latter description was just one inaccuracy in
Sing's initial report, in which he also claimed the attempted
robbery was a home invasion. Sing later withdrew that claim.

Galindo Velasco, president and founder of the Latino Foundation of
Stamford, said there has been less discussion about Benjamin
Malloy's arrest in the city's Hispanic communities. But he did not
hesitate to predict how a similar case would be handled if
Hispanic men had been the perpetrators.

"They would go straight to jail," Velasco said. "As newcomers,
Hispanics are usually not very welcome. It doesn't matter if it's a
good guy or a bad guy, they are judged by the cover of the book and
not the content."

Stamford NAACP President Jack Bryant said several members of the
black community have stopped him in the street to express their
desire for the civil rights organization to follow the case closely
to ensure the mayor's son does not receive special treatment. Bryant
said the people seemed worried about political favoritism rather
than racial bias.

"Their concern is that it's the mayor's son," Bryant said. "It's my
hope that the judges do the right thing so we won't have to get involved."

Even as the black community debates Malloy's arrest in barbershops
and elsewhere, Bryant and other black leaders emphasized their
personal empathy for the Malloy family. Newly elected state Rep.
Patricia Billie Miller, D-Stamford, said she prays the family "will
get through this."

"I think that people put themselves in Dan's position, and they say,
'That could be my child,' " Miller said. "It could happen to any of us."