Newtown Man—

Resident Trooper Honored For Preventing Explosion

By Andrew Gorosko

A Newtown man, who serves as Oxford’s resident state trooper, has been honored by state police for his meritorious service stemming from an Oxford incident last spring in which the trooper prevented a large explosion and probable injuries from occurring amid a tense situation.

Oxford Resident State Trooper Sergeant Daniel Semosky, 45, recently received the meritorious service award at the Connecticut State Police Training Academy in Meriden from Department of Public Safety Commissioner John A. Danaher III, and from State Police Colonel Thomas Davoren.

The meritorious service medal is presented to state police who have rendered service with a high degree of alertness, perseverance, and superior judgment in performing a difficult task that results in the protection of life, the recovery of property, the prevention of a major crime or solving of a major crime, or the apprehension of an armed or dangerous person.

On April 18, 2009, a 33-year-old man who lived on Chestnut Tree Hill Road in Oxford learned that state police held an arrest warrant on him, after which he became extremely agitated and irate about the prospect of being arrested, according to state police.

A witness saw the man barricading himself into his garage. The man, who had a criminal history, then armed himself with a large propane tank containing propane and an arc welder, along with various weapons, and started yelling that he would kill any police who would attempt to arrest him. A witness who was worried about the safety of the families in the neighborhood called 911 to report the situation. State police from the Southbury and Bethany barracks responded to the scene.

Among the about 12 police officers who responded to the home was Sgt Semosky, who was familiar with the man and his past threats of violence against law enforcement personnel, according to state police.

“Sergeant Semosky located the man sitting on a chair in his driveway behind a barricade with a compound bow-and-arrow close to his side. The man was holding an arc welder in one hand and a [concrete] nail gun propped up against a 100-pound compressed propane tank,” according to state police.

Sgt Semosky started talking to the man, left the safety of cover, and then moved slowly toward the man at great personal risk to himself, according to state police.

The sergeant continued talking to the man until he came within ten feet of him, knowing that at any time the man could ignite the propane tank with the arc welder, resulting in the destruction of the house and death or injury of people nearby, state police said.

The neighborhood had been evacuated as a safety measure.

At one point during the two-hour standoff, the man told police not to turn off the electricity at his house to disable the arc welder because if they did so, he would shoot a nail from the nail gun into the propane tank to cause an explosion.

Eventually, Sgt Semosky was able to neutralize the volatile situation by disarming the man and taking him into custody, state police said. There were no injuries in the incident.

Following the incident, state police arrested the man on charges including reckless endangerment, threatening, breach of peace, and violation of probation.

Sgt Semosky said this week that having had interactions with the Chestnut Tree Hill Road man before April 2009 incident, he decided how to best handle the tense situation. The sergeant said he convinced the man that his best option was to surrender to police.

“I’m happy this all worked out,” Sgt Semosky said.

The sergeant’s career with state police began in 1987 when he was hired as a trooper recruit. He then worked as a trooper at Troop A in Southbury. From 1989 to 1994, he worked as a trooper out of the former Westport state police barracks. He then served as Bridgewater’s resident trooper, after which he served as a sergeant at the Bridgeport barracks. He later headed the state police’s Western District Traffic Unit in Litchfield. From 2004 to 2006, Sgt Semosky was the media officer at the Bridgeport barracks. In 2006, he returned to Troop A, becoming a patrol shift supervisor and liaison to Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown.