IF ONLY THEY HAD MADE HIM A DEPUTY CHIEF

It appears that HPD's problem child may be at it again. According to HPD sources, Sergeant Eric Smith, who found himself  being investigated recently after firing a bullet through his neighbors home, is once again the subject of an Internal Affairs Investigation.

You can read more about the bullet through the neighbors house  incident here

According to sources, Hartford Police Officer Stackowitz had just finished putting fuel in his cruiser at the DPW Yard on Jennings Road. As he got back on I-91 South from Jennings Road to head back to his area, he observed a black pickup truck pass him at speeds he apparently estimated in excess of 100MPH.

According to HPD sources, the officer in a fully marked cruiser , attempted to catch up to the pickup truck and was able to "close the gap" once he got close to the speeding truck, he activated his overhead lights in an attempt to stop the truck. In the area of the Capitol Area exit, the truck quickly merged to the right, crossing four lanes of traffic and took the exit leading to Pulaski Circle.

  The vehicle quickly took the Prospect Street exit and made a left onto Prospect Street, heading south. Running the red light at the top of the exit. Shortly after turning onto Prospect Street the driver of the black truck apparently  hit a patch of ice, lost control of the vehicle and hit a light pole snapping it off at the base. The light pole then apparently fell across Prospect Street.

The officer positioned his cruiser to protect the scene as the driver stepped out of the black truck. The officer, who according to sources reported that the driver of the truck was staggering and was bleeding, began to approach his cruiser. The officer then recognized the driver as Sergeant Eric Smith of the Hartford Police Department. Smith handed the officer his documents  and the officer began the process of documenting the accident.

The officer also then apparently notified a street supervisor, Sergeant Dennis O'Conner of the incident. Once Smith heard that O'Connor was responding, according to sources, Smith asked another officer at the scene, Officer Small, to help him carry the light post to the curb so he could leave. I'm not sure who would willingly touch a live aluminum electrical pole and move it but, Smith is a Sergeant and the new officer was most likely intimidated.

Smith , after leaving the scene, proceeded to his home in Windsor. The shift supervisor for the night, LT. Pleasant, paid Smith a visit  at his home in Windsor. Again , according to sources, Smith would only talk to Pleasent through the glass storm door and wouldn't open the door or talk to Pleasent face to face.

It would be interesting to know where Smith was before his attempt to allude the Police and his crash. Most people injured in accidents and bleeding , willingly  go to the hospital for treatment, unless you are worried about the police getting their hands on your blood samples through a search warrant and charging you with DUI.

 I have FOI'd the incident report, the radio recordings and the dash cam video which is reported to show the entire incident. I will post that as soon as I receive it.

I have to ask the question though, is this guy really the right person to be supervising anyone., especially his recent examples of his decision making?

And as far as the title of this posting, this is one of the 3 officers that a Council member was pushing to be promoted to Deputy Chief recently

MORE ON HARTFORD'S ANNIE OAKLEY, JUDGE THELMA SANTOS

Below are pictures of the parking space that Judge Santos apparently had made her threats to the officer over.
I can't see any markings on the space saying that it is reserved for "her Honor" or anything to indicate  that it was reserved.

Let me know if you can see anything I missed

Photos courtesy of HPD

920 Broad St

UPDATE: THE JUDGE SANTOS POLICE REPORT

Through an FOI request to the Hartford Police Department. I obtained the incident report filed with the Hartford Police Department regarding the incident with Superior Court Judge Thelma Santos.

To read the original posting, click here

Although the officer states in his report he thought that Judge Santos's comments may have been in jest, apparently someone from the Prosecutor's Office thought differently after he overheard the comment.and stated that Santos's behavior was inappropriate.

In this day and age of increased awareness of gun violence, and just a year after the Newtown shootings, is there any time a comment to use a gun on someone else is appropriate?

That report is below

Judge Santos Police Report0001

THE DRONE ISSUE CONTINUES

Lawsuits have been filed and the drone saga continues. Now a Bill has been introduced in the legislature  to regulate their use. The bill is attached below.

One question that remains though is how did the FAA get involved? The Hartford Police Department insists that they did not contact the FAA . A local television station reported that the FAA was investigating the matter, but the question now is who made the complaint? Was it one television station attempting to create a story to discredit their competition? We may never know.

Jim Peters, the regional spokesperson for the FAA, was unable to identify the complainant for me, but said it was not unusual for the agency to launch investigations based on media reports or media inquiries. Peters said that the 2012 FAA Reorganization and Modernization Act passed in Congress addressed the regulations of unmanned aircraft  (Drones) and policies are being formed to further address their use. Apparently their use over police scenes is of importance to both the FAA as well as the Law Enforcement community

DRONE BILL 2014HB-05217-R00-HB

THE VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BENCH

This is one for the "What was she thinking file?" or more appropriately , "Clearly she wasn't thinking". Several sources have confirmed that Superior Court Judge Thelma Santos, wife of Defense Attorney Hubert "Hubie" Santos , is apparently under judicial review. The review, being conducted by what one source called Judge's IAD, (Internal Affairs Department). is the result of verbal threats allegedly made by Judge Santos to shoot a Hartford Police Officer recently.


 The incident apparently began recently after a Hartford Police Officer was dispatched to the Juvenile Detention Facility at 920 Broad Street in Hartford. Judge Santos is apparently assigned to the Juvenile Court , sitting as  a Superior Court Judge there.


The officer, after arriving at the facility and found an open parking space and after parking his cruiser went about his business. The space he apparently parked in was reserved for Judge Santos from what sources said, but the sign marking the space as reserved was obstructed by snow.


As the officer finished up with his business, he was getting ready to leave and was apparently getting his weapon back out of a gun locker and , again , according to several sources, the officer was approached by Judge Santos who made a comment to the officer along the lines of  " you better hurry up and get that gun back before I shoot you for parking in my space"


Now we all know , everyone has a bad day. But we also hear all the time about Police Officers being held to a higher standard. Shouldn't that higher standard also apply to a Superior Court Judge when it comes to verbal threats against a Police Officer, no matter what the reason?


There is no confirmation as to whether Judge Santos may face any criminal charges for her role in the threatening of the Officer,  The investigation is ongoing and sources have  confirmed that Judge Santos apparently visited the Hartford Police Department accompanied by her attorney, James Wade . Judge Santos apparently apologized to the officer she allegedly threatened, according to sources


The CT Law Tribune lists Santos as a Superior Court Judge, Middletown Court for Juvenile Matters


Online records show that Santos was confirmed as a Superior Court Judge  in February of 2012 "That the nomination by His Excellency, the Governor, of the Honorable Thelma A. Santos of West Hartford to be a Judge of the Superior Court, to serve for a term of eight years from March 9, 2012, is approved and confirmed, and she is appointed a Judge of the Superior Court for said term."


Now lets wait and see who will claim this as an "exclusive" story first.


 The Judicial Judge Review Report will be posted once it is available.

THE DRONE CONTROVERSY CONTINUES

Although others may have claimed to have broken the drone story and claimed it as "exclusive", you read it here first You can read the original story here




Now it is coming to life again as a Federal lawsuit has been filed by the operator of the drone against members of the Hartford Police Department. This should prove interesting as the suit moves forward. More information is sure to come out as to who knew what and when they knew it. Were  any Channel 3 WFSB or Merdith Corporation  Corporate policies violated and who will be held accountable if so.


Stay tuned on this one




HERE IS THE LAWSUIT FILED TODAY

Drone Lawsuit0001