One man dead, second hospitalized in separate incidents

WINSTED — Winchester police chief Nicholas Guerriero confirmed Wednesday morning that two violent crime scenes were under investigation after a body was found along Route 800 in Winchester and a local bar owner was hospitalized after a fight in his establishment.

Bob Ciochetti, co-owner of the Red Rooster Saloon, 900 Main St., was reportedly taken away from the bar in an ambulance shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday, after a violent altercation in the bar. He was brought to Charlotte Hungerford Hospital and then to Hartford Hospital, where he was in critical condition early Wednesday morning.

"He had a head injury and had to be transferred to Hartford, where he still is," Guerriero said Wednesday. "It was a serious assault."

Guerriero said an arrest had not been made as of Wednesday at 11 a.m.

The second call came in at 5:16 a.m from someone reporting that a man was lying on the side of the roadway on Route 800, near the AT&T building near the Torrington line.

Guerriero said officers found a deceased white male lying off the side of the road. "We’ve got the state police assisting us in processing the scene," he said.

Local police officers and fire police blocked all routes to the area of Route 800 under investigation Wednesday as state police worked the two crime scenes. Police said they believed the two incidents were unrelated.

Guerriero said officers were already contending with increased calls due to a heavier-than-expected snowstorm that came through Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning. "We got blindsided by the snowstorm, and then all of this happened," he said.