Cops: Checkers game ends in stabbing

NEW HAVEN -- An argument during a game of checkers ended with a stabbing Tuesday night, police said.

Amando Vazquez, 24, was found by police sitting on the sidewalk near the corner of Eastern Street and Hemingway around 9 p.m. yelling "I have been stabbed," according to police spokesman Officer David Hartman.

Hartman said Vazquez was taken to the hospital with wounds to his left shoulder and lower back.

After he was stabilized at the hospital, officers Alex Morgillo and Michael Haines interview Vazquez, who told them he had been in an apartment at Bella Vista playing checkers and "smoking weed" with three guys.

"He said an argument started after one of them made defamatory remarks about his mother," Hartman said in a press release.

Vazquez told the officers he left the building but was confronted by his checkers-playing foes at the street corner. One of them suggested a fight, and the other then said "(explitive), I'm stabbing you..."

Vazquez said the men fled after the assault. Police have strong leads to work with and expect arrests will be made, Hartman said.