WINTERFEST COAT DRIVE KICK-OFF TOMORROW

 

MAYOR SEGARRA JOINS OTHER CITY LEADERS TO ANNOUNCE

SKATE, COAT, HAT & GLOVE DRIVE FOR

WINTERFEST HARTFORD

 

---NEWS ADVISORY FOR THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2013--

 

WHAT:          Skate, Coat, Hat, & Glove Drive

WHERE:       Hartford City Hall Atrium

WHEN:          1:00 p.m. – Friday, November 1, 2013

 

Hartford Mayor Pedro E. Segarra, iQuilt Chairwoman Bonnie Malley and Bob Crawford of Champions Skating will join East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc and West Hartford Mayor Scott Slifka to announce that the City has teamed up with the towns of East Hartford, West Hartford and Simsbury to collect gently used figure skates, coats, hats and gloves for the fourth annual iQuilt Presents Winterfest Hartford.

 

Winterfest Hartford, a free, public ice-skating rink under the canopy of historic Bushnell Park, will officially open with a festive celebration the evening of Friday, November 29,^, 2013 and will run daily through Saturday, February 1, 2014.

 

At this news conference, donation sites will be announced. Also, an updated skating schedule, additional corporate sponsorships and business support will be discussed.  

 

Last year, over 100 pairs of skates were donated and 58,000 skaters enjoyed the rink. More than 55,000 others visited the park and participated in Winterfest festivities.

 

Contact:         Mary Coursey                        

Cell: 860-305-0476

Email:  mary@courseyco.com

HARTFORD POLICE SERGEANT FAILS TO REPORT SHOOTING INCIDENT AT HIS HOME

Some days it just seems like Hartford's Police Chief James Rovella just can't catch a break.

The latest incident just seems to defy common sense.

On September 25, 2013 a Windsor resident called the Windsor Police Department to report that his 12 year old daughter found a metal item in her bed that she thought was some sort of "capsule". The father, Marc Simpson recognized the "capsule" as the spent round from a gun. Simpson also found a hole in the outside wall of his daughters bedroom that appeared to be a gunshot hole.

Simpson called Windsor Police to report the incident and turn the round over to the Windsor Police . They conducted an investigation and determined that the round was fired from the home of Simpsons next door neighbor , Hartford Police Sergeant Eric Smith. Although Smith knew he fired the round, according to the timeline in the Police report, he never notified the Windsor police or the Hartford Police department that he had fired his weapon.

Smith only admitted to firing the shot from his Glock 40 caliber weapon after being confronted by Windsor officers.

The Hartford Police Department was only made aware of the incident apparently after a Windsor officer called Hartford IAD Sergeant Marty Cunningham, who assured Windsor that the matter would be handled "internally". Windsor Sergeant Spencer then  informed Cunningham that if they were "handling" it "we" , Windsor, would not be taking any further action.

The report also mentions that Hartford Police Union Vice president Nazario Figueroa was at the scene, but mentions no other response by any HPD supervisor.

The amount of time between the shooting incident and the actual reporting by Simpson is unclear. At one point in the report, Smith states it was the day before and at another point states to Sergeant Spencer it "was a couple days ago"

The troubling part is that Hartford Police Sergeant Eric Smith, despite his experience and training, did nothing after the shooting. The fact that the round was found in the bed of a 12 year old girl could have been disastrous if she was actually laying in her bed sleeping at the time. Smith apparently made no efforts to check on his neighbor and make sure that no one was injured or even make an attempt to apologize for the bullet hole in his neighbors home.

According to sources, in the report it mentions  Smith's wife Betty Perez, she is a Hartford 911 Dispatcher Other sources have also confirmed that Smith apparently has a friendship with Windsor Police Sergeant Spencer.The incident was provided with the complete addresses, I have chose to redact the house numbers.

Also, according to sources, the HPD Internal Affairs report has just recently been completed and is making its way though the chain of command for Chief Rovella's review and potential discipline.

Here is the Windsor Police incident report:

ERIC SMITH WINDSOR REPORT0001.pdf

THE PLOT THICKENS

Much attention has been placed on subpoenas served by the FBI at Hartford City hall last week. For whatever reason, the Segarra Administration had apparently tried to avoid releasing the actual subpoena. Although it appears that City legal experts from the Corporation Counsel Office were apparently advised on Friday by FOI Commission employees that the subpoenas were public documents and had to be released. 

The dog and pony show continued, but earlier today, the City released the actual subpoenas. Those documents are below.

City Subpoena.pdf

More interesting though are documents obtained through sources late this afternoon. The Hartford Public Schools were also served with the federal subpoenas for documents. The cover letter for the subpoena is also interesting in that it specifically states the subpoena is for "a Federal grand jury into the possible commission of a felony".

Although the subpoena's served on City Hall specifically identify Mayor Pedro Segarra, Treasurer Adam Cloud and former Finance Director Jose Molleda (Molleda's name is actually Julio) and requests for specific documents from the three, in addition to general legal wording for any and all related documents. The Hartford Schools subpoena is less specific and no individuals are named. According to sources, only Hybrid insurance's CEO Earl O'Garro has been notified that he is a "target" of the Grand Jury at this time.

The Hartford Schools subpoena's are below, including the cover letter for "possible commission of a felony"

BD OF ED SUBPOENA0001.pdf