Two Men With the Same Name Tangle With Police on the Same Day

In a case of unmistakable identity, two men named Giovanni Torres appear as different as the charges each one faces.

On April 19, Giovanni Torres, 20, of 117 Harbison St. in Hartford, was arrested by . He is accused of repeatedly striking his pregnant girlfriend, who required treatment at Hartford Hospital April 7 for a possible broken eye socket, police said.

Also April 19, 42 minutes later, Giovanni Torres, 36, of 45 Rowe Ave. in Hartford, was arrested in West Hartford at 1:17 a.m. and charged with DUI, police said.

“Same name, same date, different people,” West Hartford Lt. David Dubiel said. “Quite an anomaly.”

The elder Torres was arraigned in Hartford Superior Court on five motor vehicle violations, including the DUI. He was released on a promise to appear for a plea hearing May 24 in Superior Court, according to court documents.

The younger Torres was arraigned for felony assault, disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment. He was released on a promise to appear in court June 7.

Both men were born in Puerto Rico, according to court documents. Both were arraigned in the same courtroom before the same judge on the same day. They live on opposite sides of Hartford's I-84 divide. One is right-handed (elder Torres) and the other is left-handed. Their alleged crimes were each committed a few blocks apart on Prospect Street.

Their paths crossed, apparently for the first time, in the booking room at police headquarters on Raymond Road, police said.

After the younger Torres was booked, the elder Torres arrived. Police said the elder Torres spoke with a thick Spanish accent and occasionally would speak in English. After attempts to find a police translator from a surrounding town were unsuccessful, “another prisoner was asked if he spoke Spanish and he said he did,” Officer Eric Rocheleau said in his arrest report.

“Oddly,” Rocheleau said, “the prisoner that translated had the same name as my arrestee.”

The younger Torres helped the elder Torres understand his rights, Rocheleau said. The elder Torres agreed to take a Breathalyzer test and the results were more than two times the .08 limit, police said. The elder Torres faces the possibility of 120 days in jail if convicted on the DUI charge.

The younger Torres is possibly facing a stiffer judgment in court.

According to police, Torres, his girlfriend, who is more than 3 months pregnant, and her sister were shopping at a in the Prospect Shopping Plaza. Torres was told by his girlfriend that she wanted to break off the relationship. A verbal argument outside the store escalated, police said.

“Torres kept hitting her [then] struck her very hard on the left side of her face and she became dizzy,” police said the victim told them.

Hartford Hospital staff told police a fractured orbital bone was suspected but not confirmed. X-rays were not taken because the victim is pregnant, police said.

Torres was originally held on a $50,000 bond.

Torres also faces unrelated felony burglary and larceny charges in connection to an investigation by Hartford police in January, according to an arrest affidavit. He is expected to answer those charges in Superior Court May 20.