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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

Last week I posted about the latest Eric Smith incident here. As part of that , I filed an FOI Request with the Hartford Police Department for any dash cam from the Officer's car that was attempting to stop Sergeant Smith as he raced South on I-91 at excessive speed, right before he crashed..

Unlike Deputy Chief Foley, who seems to understand the meaning of transparency and public information, there is another gatekeeper for the HPD information vault. Detective Ursula Weibusch is the brick wall between the public and openness at HPD. I figured it was somewhat odd, having dealt with her in the past, to get an e-mail Tuesday that my FOI request was ready to be picked up with everything I had asked for including the video.

I picked up the packet as instructed and reviewed the documents. Interestingly the video showed Sergeant Smith racing down the snow covered road and then cross a few lanes of traffic to quickly exit I-91 onto the Capitol Area exit.. The officer stayed a distance behind Smiths Truck as he exited onto the Prospect Street Exit by Arch Street, The video clearly shows Smith blowing through the intersection and the Red traffic light  at about 35 MPH and make a quick left onto Arch Street.

The video then shows Smith heading South on Prospect in a reckless manner on the snowy and icy street. Toward the end of the video it shows Smith losing control of his vehicle... and then the video suddenly ends. Conveniently apparently right before he crashes into a light pole snapping the pole off and right before it landed across Prospect Street.Conveniently also right before Smith exited his vehicle bleeding and according to sources staggering.

Even though I asked for "any dash cam video" I didn't get it. After several e-mails back and forth and at first being told the video somehow ended abruptly and no more existed, today HPD seemed to backtrack and said there were 3 more segments of video they would be releasing to me tomorrow.

The accident report is also interesting since there was no mention  of the high speed reckless travel of the vehicle before the crash. The only mention by Officer Stachowicz of the events leading up to the crash was "While travelling West on the Conlin Whitehead Highway , I observed a dark colored pick-up truck in front of me also travelling West". No mention of having to pursue the truck from almost Jennings Road just to catch up with it.

Stachowitz writes that Smith was given "a verbal warning for travelling too Fast for Conditions" . No mention of blowing through the Red light, or maybe "left turns on Red" as mentioned in his report are legal after certain hours. Also , no mention of Reckless Driving or Alluding Police.

The unusual incident report also seems to skip over some key questions also. Why was Smith and his vehicle gone before any Supervisor's arrived on the scene to document the incident?  Who mad the decision to move the light pole out of the road before CL&P and Hartford Fire arrived to "make it safe". That could have been deadly to move a live, aluminum light pole.

Here are the reports and the video below, or at least the video that was given to me. The rest will be posted as soon as I get it.

Maybe it is time for Detective Weibusch to make another appearance before the FOI Commission to reinforce the public  right to know.



Monday, March 3, 2014

SOME THINGS WILL NEVER CHANGE: THE SEGARRA ENTITLEMENT


Mayor Segarra and his partner Charlie Ortiz loading their Home Depot purchases into the City Car Saturday.


In a City where poverty and unemployment run rampant, it is sad that we still have politicians that think City Hall is their pot of gold.

Whether it is the former Chief of Staff who stole his car  to get a few more bucks of use out of the taxpayers or the Acting COO at the time who crashed her car or maybe the current Chief of Staff who has no intention of living in Hartford.

But I guess the old saying that leadership begins at the top is really true, and if there is no leadership or example coming from the top, what should we expect?

You might recall that after the boyfriend/fiancee/significant other, now Acting Assistant Fire Chief, of Acting COO Saundra Kee-Borges crashed her City car, the City Council apparently passed a resolution restricting the use of City vehicles to the Mayor, Police Chief and Fire Chief for City business and certain others bound by contracts. The City of Hartford Ethics Code is also pretty clear that City Resources are to be used for city business only, not personal use.

The last I knew, Mayor Segarra is being paid over $150,000 per year, is it too much to expect him to use his own car and his own gas when he makes his Saturday run to Home Depot with his partner?

The picture above of Mayor Segarra and his partner loading their purchases into his City car at the West Hartford Home Depot sure doesn't look like City business.

 I guess "don't do as I do, do as I say" is a good enough example for the rest of the City workers.

HARTFORD DEMOCRATIC TOWN COMMITTEE PRIMARY TUESDAY

I am a candidate for the Hartford Democratic Town committee  and running in a primary election tomorrow It is very frustrating for several reasons, many of them discussed in the video below of today's "We the People" program.

It is a campaign where the opposition slate will be a return to the past and Town Committee "leadership" if you could even call it that. that had led to political corruption that eventually resulted in a Grand Jury Investigation and the arrests of several Hartford politicians. Instead of retyping all of it, the video says it all.

If you are a Hartford resident and live in the 7th District ( Doug McCrory is your State Rep. if you do) take a few minutes tomorrow to vote for Row C

Thank you.


COUNCIL PRESIDENT WOODEN'S ASSISTANT FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST CITY OF HARTFORD FOR FALSE ARREST

The City of Hartford was served with a summons for a Civil Lawsuit  by a State Marshall last Thursday. The suit was brought by Council President Shawn Wooden's Administrative Assistant Janice Flemming.The suit stems from Flemming's arrest after an alleged altercation in Blue Hills.

An interesting twist is that Donna Thompson-Daniels is also named as a defendant in the suit. Flemming claims that Daniels made false statements that led to her arrest and lied to the Prosecuting Attorney at the Hartford Court.

Daniels is a candidate for the Hartford Democratic Town Committee in the primary being held tomorrow

The suit is below.

 This suit will most likely present several  interesting issues that Councilman Wooden will have to address. First is Flemming's position as his administrative assistant. Since all settlements over a certain dollar amount must be passed by the Council,  would  Flemming now be in a position to review correspondence from the Corporation Counsel that might be sent to Wooden related to any settlement or legal strategy. Could that information then be used by Flemming to benefit her position on her lawsuit?

Also, I know you go for the person with the deep pockets. In this case it would appear to be the City of Harrtford and HPD. If the plaintiff, Flemming, in this case knows that Daniels allegedly lied to the police. It would appear that the police officer acted in good faith based on the circumstances of the case.

 If Daniels did in fact lie, and in the absence of other witnesses, the officer arrested Flemming based on the facts laid out to him, what else is supposed to happen. No video no witnesses, just Daniels claims to the officer. It happens every day when arrests are made. Police Officers are human and make similar decisions everyday, very few arrests are absolute.

I guess we will see as the suit moves forward. Never a dull moment in Hartford.

ROBO CALL FAIL

I, like most people,, hate Robo Calls. They are even more annoying though during dinner time.

Tonight i got one that was actually quite gratifying, and yes, during dinner time.

It was actually one of my opponents from another Hartford Democratic Town Committee slate challenging us in tomorrow's Democratic Town Committee Primary. Now for a group that has said they represent their neighbor's, I am not quite sure why Robo Calls are necessary. Shouldn't you be able to go out and interact with your neighbors rather than annoying them with computer generated phone calls?

But anyway, the gratifying part is when the ROBO CAll from Donna Daniels had a meltdown. I think they call that Karma, listen below

Saturday, March 1, 2014

TIME FOR SOME CHANGES

I realize the blog is a sounding board for many people both through the comments and the information that is passed on to me for me to look into.

I also realize the blog is a mechanism for transparency and exposing issues that would probably never see the light of day through the mainstream media..

I hope to continue doing that, but some of the comments , I think,  need to be regulated more. I will no longer post comments using names that are mocking or ridiculing other people.  The allegations of racism and other issues, attributed to someone else's name, will not be posted . Names depicting a racist principal or Police Sergeant  will no longer be allowed.

It is unfortunate that commenter's will use someone else's name, but probably have never gone to the person named and said to their face what they are willing to post here.It is time to act like adults and confront issues like adults do.

You may ask why the change? I was bothered by the comments recently depicting the Principal of Burns School as racist. Since she wouldn't talk to me the night of the incident, after I did more checking I found out several things that seemed far from racist.Apparently the Principal regularly sends students home with backpacks full of food for the weekends,  students that otherwise may not be getting fed at home. I'm not sure what the commenter's definition of a racist is, but that seems far from it.

If you have an issue, feel free to e-mail me  and I will attempt to look into your accusations, but they will not be posted here until I feel comfortable that there is proper substantiation.

Also, please try to keep your comments  to the topic being posted, or at least something somewhat relevant.The comments can still be interesting , but try to keep them dignified

Thanks