TOO MANY GUNS ON OUR STREETS, THE COURTS NEED TO START DOING THEIR JOB

 

 

There are too many guns on our streets. The alarming part is that many of these gun arrests come along with the criminal charge "criminal possession of a firearm". That charge usually means that this person  is a convicted felon willing to carry or use a gun. This can no longer be a "slap on the wrist offense" by the courts. This is a serious charge and it needs to result in serious jail time.

Here is an incident that occurred last night and the details from HPD:

On November 24, 2015 at 7:10pm Hartford Police Department Patrol Officers and the Hartford Shooting Task Force responded to New Country Motor Cars on Weston Street on a report of an active shooter. Arriving HPD officers tactically cleared the parking lot and dealership but were unable to locate the shooter. Officers located several witnesses who reported that a male suspect, dressed in black, had been shooting at an employee in the east lot of the dealership. The intended victim and witnesses reported up to five shots from a revolver. Two vehicles were damaged by gunfire.

As officers were still investigating at New Country Motor Cars, a McDonald's employee, (98 Weston Street) called 911 and reported a male suspect in the restaurant in possession of a firearm.

HPD Officers and Hartford STF responded. Officers entered McDonald's and observed a male suspect sitting with a revolver on his lap. The suspect was held at gunpoint by officers as he put his hands in the air. HPD Patrol Officers moved in and secured the suspects firearm (#1). The suspect was placed in handcuffs without incident. The suspect was identified as Willis Wright.

As Wright was in the rear seat of a HPD cruiser, he advised the Officer that he was the one that was just shooting at the Mercedes Dealership. Wright further stated that he had two guns, and had previously discarded the gun he used to shoot at the dealership. HPD Patrol and STF Investigators went to an area directed to by Wright where he said he threw a firearm. Officers went behind 10 Weston Street (formerly Jiffy Lube), where the firearm (#2) was located and secured as evidence.

Wright is a convicted felon with several pending cases and prior firearm arrests. He was interviewed and booked.

It is not immediately clear why the suspect was shooting at the dealership. Investigators report Wright had no connection to the dealership and that Wright believed '...somebody was trying to kill him'. Investigators described Wrights behavior as a Emotionally Disturbed Person. The Investigation is ongoing. Wright is to be arraigned this morning.

EVIDENCE:

Firearm #1; Colt .38 Caliber Detective Special Revolver color black, fully loaded with (6) live .38 caliber rounds of ammunition.

Firearm #2; Sturm Ruger .357 Revolver color silver, containing (5) spent shell casings.


DAMAGED:

New 2016 Mercedes-Benz GLA250 SUV- passenger side roof projectile damage.

New 2016 Smart Fortwo coupe- passenger side door projectile damage.


Arrest: Wright, Willis, 38 (03/23/1977), of 1574 Main Street, Hartford, CT.
Charges:

Carrying a Pistol w/o a Permit

Criminal Possession of a Firearm

Criminal Attempt at Assault 1st Degree

Criminal Mischief 1st Degree

Reckless Endangerment 1st Degree

THE OLGA VAZQUEZ INCIDENT: THE HARTFORD POLICE OFFICIAL VERSION

Here is the official version and the HPD Documentation of the Registrars' meltdown

HPD Case _ 15-36191

IT IS ALMOST OVER, THE 11-23-2015 COUNCIL REVIEW

Council Review 11.23.15

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED FOR HPD PAL

FROM HPD DEPUTY CHIEF BRIAN FOLEY:

On Sunday, November 22dnd, , the Hartford Police Athletic League’s football team (Wildcats)  beat Leominster, Ma for the New England Regional Championship. Final score was 51-7. They have qualified for the National Championships in Kissimmee, FL! They desperately need your help to get there, win the title, and celebrate their regional championship this year.

About the Hartford Wildcats:

The Hartford Wildcats are a member of the Colonial Youth Football and Cheer League and American Youth Football. HWYFA (Hartford Wildcats Youth Football Association), a
nonprofit, all volunteer organization, was founded in 2000 with the goal of providing enrichment opportunities for Hartford youth, helping them stay physically fit and developing their self-esteem. The program provides athletic opportunities including football and cheerleading for boys and girls ages 5 through 14.

The Wildcats are supported by the Hartford Police Athletic League (PAL) and emphasize the role of academic success in addition to athletic excellence. Kids are expected to maintain strict academic and behavioral standards and are responsible to their teammates.

The Wildcats have come close to this opportunity for the past three years, and finally this year, their dedication and teamwork paid off. The team played an impressive season, capping off their record with a 51-7 victory in the New England Regional Championship in Auburn, Massachusetts to qualify for Nationals. The kids couldn’t be prouder!

The kids have done their part... Now it’s your turn! We need to raise $35,000 by 12/5/15 in order to help us cover airfare, room, and board for these deserving kids when they travel to make their dreams come true in Florida. They have worked long and hard and have shown a deep commitment to their teammates. Now they need you to be their guardian angels!

The cost of the trip is around $35,000. The team has started a Gofundme.comcampaign (link) to generate money for the trip as well as equipment expenses. Anything you guys could do would be greatly appreciated! Let’s get these kids ready to go to Florida and represent Hartford in the National Champions.

SECOND THOUGHTS

I try to be fair with this blog, so here goes. Yesterday I posted about Democratic Registrar Olga Vazquez and her meltdown last Friday at City Hall. After getting a couple phone calls and thinking about this incident, I am having some second thoughts.

I am in no way condoning Vazquez's behavior. I have always felt that people that have to use the 'F' word and such language to communicate shows a sign of ignorance, There might be a time and place to use such language, but in a public building and in a supposedly professional environment is not the time or the place .Especially not by an elected official.

Vazquez has shown her lack of professionalism from the very beginning of her tenure at City Hall. Her behavior alone has built a very strong case to revamp the Registrar's Office.

With that being said, maybe some City Hall Office's also apparently need to be reworked. If the Payroll Department had done their job properly, there probably wouldn't have been a need for Vazquez to make the trip across the hall to argue for payment for her workers. I am pretty sure if the clerks in the Payroll Office were waiting for their paychecks from September , something would be corrected quickly .

It is very difficult to get poll workers. The salary, when averaged out over a long election day, probably comes out to much less than minimum wage. To then have to wait months to get paid is very wrong. Many poll workers actually choose work at the polls because the money is needed, not because they like elections. I am told by some poll workers that this is routine treatment by City Hall.

If employees in a private business hadn't been paid their wages since September, their employers would be facing a Judge on criminal charges of failing to pay wages or worse.

Olga's behavior is still reprehensible and uncalled for , but there is enough blame to go around, Also, in this day and age of workplace violence, I am also troubled by the supervisor who overheard the commotion and instructed the employee not to call the police as the supervisor went back to her desk without trying to find out what was happening . Would she have actually waited for the violence to escalate and someone being injured before she decided to take any action? That does not sound like very good decision making on the part of a supervisor who is paid to deal with such workplace issues.

HARTFORD'S DEMOCRATIC REGISTRAR MELTS DOWN ....AGAIN

According to Hartford City Hall sources, Hartford's Democratic Registrar of Voters Olga Vazquez went off the deep end once again Friday. This seems to be becoming and election time tradition for Vazquez who was the focus of scrutiny after last years poll debacle. Her actions then were the motivation by the Legislature for new laws regulating the Registrar of Voters Office , specifically in Hartford.

According to sources, on  Friday a Hartford Police Officer was sent to the payroll office at City Hall on the report of a disturbance. Upon the arrival the officer was met by Daniel Bonilla , a payroll supervisor at City Hall. Bonilla informed the officer that at about 1:00PM Friday,   the Democratic Registrar, Olga Vazquez, came into his office regarding a payroll issue for poll workers from the recent  Mayoral primary ( September 16th). Instead of the full $180.00 , the workers were only paid $25.00.

Bonilla apparently advised Vazquez that she would have to process the correct paperwork through Human Resources and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Apparently Vazquez then insisted that Bonilla "go into his computer and make the proper adjustments immediately"

Bonilla told Police that Vazquez then began to yell and swear at him. Vazquez, acting aggressive toward Bonilla and standing about a foot away from him continued to yell and curse at Bonilla, yelling "you have a f**king batch open why don't you do it?" continuing to yell, Vazquez screamed "This job is going to your f**king head , why don't you just do your job?'

Vazquez continued her yelling and screaming to the point that witnesses in the office overheard the disturbance. One witness, Marlene Fleeting, another employee in the office  who was several cubicles away went into Bonilla's office to see what was happening and reportedly saw Vazquez about a foot away from Bonilla yelling and swearing at him. Fleeting intervened and told Vazquez to calm down because Bonilla has some sort of medical condition and shouldn't get excited. Vazquez told Fleeting to mind her own business  because"this was a management matter".

Vazquez then apparently told Fleeting that if Bonilla had a medical condition "then maybe he shouldn't be working here".

Bonilla also told Police that he apparently felt threatened by Vazquez's actions.

HPD also apparently talked to another employee Padma Patel who is another supervisor in the Payroll Office. She also confirmed the disturbance and that she heard the suspect, Vazquez, yelling f**k and f**king during the altercation. Another witness, Ellen McCreery , also heard the altercation and asked her supervisor , Patel, if she should call the Police. Patel apparently said no and then went back to her desk.

It is unclear why under the circumstances no arrest was made, or if and arrest warrant application will be submitted for Vazquez. It would seem that the City's Zero tolerance Policy for workplace violence doesn't really mean Zero tolerance, depending on who you are.

If we are arresting Fire Lieutenants for similar incidents, will Vazquez skate on this one? And will those who reported the incident to Police now also receive 89 day suspensions? Luckily Chief Huertas and Assistant Chief Brady don't run the Payroll Department. If they did no one would be left to cut the City Payroll..

Neither HPD or City Hall have made any comment on the altercation but it seems to add more weight to the argument for the need to professionalize the Registrar's Office.

WHAT WILL THIS COUNCIL'S LEGACY BE?

As we count the day's until the Segarra Administration ends, it is interesting to see what the outgoing Council will set as their legacy. They have the potential to be seen as the most corrupt group of Hartford politicians in Hartford's history. They are already known for their corrupt deals and political paybacks that have most likely cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

Their actions have already resulted in a Federal Grand Jury into some of these alleged dirty deals they ushered through, unchecked.

That has so far eclipsed anything corrupt former Mayor Eddie Perez ever accomplished. His grand total of corruption dollars , at least those we know about, totaled about $70.000. A Federal Grand Jury is currently investigating Hartford City Hall and that could reach into millions of dollars in over paid invoices and missing funds

Tomorrow nights Council meeting can potentially set their legacy. An item on their agenda that is attracting interest is the deal concocted with a tax delinquent property and its owner, multi millionaire and Hartford resident Alan Lazowski of LAZ parking.

Lazowski purchased the Talcott Street property in 2011. The building was part of the former G. Fox Department store complex and consists of a parking garage on the lower levels and several upper floors of former warehouse and office space.

Lazowski must have apparently realized the purchase was a poor investment quickly after buying the property. The parking facility was in deplorable condition structurally, essentially due to damage to the structural concrete and steel caused by road salt from the vehicles parked inside over the years. Len Besthoff , at the time working for another Hartford TV station before he moved to NBC Connecticut, had done an investigative story on chunks of the structure falling on vehicles in the garage as large portions gave out from the decay.

The garage was subsequently closed to the public and quickly became a non-producing asset for Lazowski. Even though Lazowski , as I said before. is a multi millionaire he apparently stopped paying the property taxes on the property. There is apparently still about $2.1 million in back taxes due as well as a tax lien for $1million dollars that was sold by the City.

Now the Segarra Administration  has concocted a plan to rescue Lazowski  and still allow him to keep control of the property by forgiving the back taxes and allowing the City to invest in the repairs and modifications to the property to bail Lazowski out. Lazowski would then be handed the parking concessions from the freshly renovated property, apparently in violation of existing State law requiring any City owned parking operations to be managed by the Hartford Parking Authority.

If this Council goes along with the deal they should be ashamed of themselves for several reasons.(I'm not sure they are capable of any shame though after watching their actions at November's first meeting of the month.)

First and foremost is a City Ordinance that forbids the City from negotiating or doing business with any Company that is delinquent on property taxes. Mr. Lazowski clearly is that. The City has put many others out of their homes and business out over far less in taxes than what Mr. Lazowski owes. He should not be allowed to benefit from his delinquency and then be funded by Hartford's taxpayers,

Second. there probably aren't too many Hartford politicians on the local, State and Federal level that have  not had checks put in their pockets by Mr. Lazowski at campaign time.  There are probably quite a few hard working people that have been removed from their homes by Hartford's Tax Collector over back taxes and never got a sweet deal like the City is offering to Lazowski.. Is this a classic example of buying political favor through sprinkling donations around ?

And what is the actual condition of the building? Will it ever be able to be used "as is" without extensive structural repairs. Have any engineering studies been done detailing its current condition? Or will we find out too late that the building is beyond repair and Hartford taxpayers will have to eat the cost of demolition? And Mr. Lazowski walks away free and clear of his tax debt to Hartford?

And what is the rush for this Council to slam Lazowski's action through in the next to the last meeting before they are shown the door? The incoming Administration and Council should be weighing this deal  rather than being saddled with another bad deal similar to the Yards Goats and the Dillon Stadium deal that have surely become the legacy for Council President Wooden and Councilman Ken Kennedy.

It will also be a good test to see whether political donations and influence drive Hartford's public policy or does the best interest of Hartford take priority?

I guess we will know after the Council meets tomorrow night.