Off-Duty State Trooper Arrested

After Allegedly Fleeing Crash

By Andrew Gorosko

Newtown police arrested an off-duty state trooper on the morning of Friday, April 8, after he allegedly fled the scene of a two-vehicle accident in which he was involved.

The trooper has been suspended from duty without pay pending a state police internal affairs investigation.

State police spokesman Sergeant J. Paul Vance said April 11 that Trooper Stephen Dacunha, 34, of Danbury has had his state police badge and handgun taken away from him as part of that suspension. The state police internal affairs investigation will examine the facts and circumstances of the accident, which occurred at the intersection of Wasserman Way and Route 34, near Newtown High School.

Such incidents are taken “very seriously” in internal affairs investigations, Sgt Vance said.

Newtown police arrested Dacunha on two charges after they located him in Danbury following the accident. Newtown police later released Dacunha on $500 bail for an April 21 appearance in Danbury Superior Court.

Dacunha, who has been a state trooper since 1998, was attached to the Troop L barracks in Litchfield.

According to a Newtown police report on the accident, Dacunha was driving his 1977 Dodge Ram pickup truck eastward on Wasserman Way and approaching that road’s intersection with Route 34 at about 1:52 am. Dacunha entered Route 34, crossing through its eastbound lane and into its westbound lane, police said.

The front end of the truck struck the driver’s side of a 2000 Pontiac SEI coupe being driven westward on Route 34 by motorist Laurie Miller, 22, of 15-A Parmalee Hill Road, police said.

The Pontiac then veered off the right road shoulder, coming to rest off the road, police said.

“Vehicle 1 [Dacunha] left the scene without rendering help or operator/vehicle info,” police said.

Sandy Hook firefighters and Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps members went to the accident. The ambulance staffers transported Miller to Danbury Hospital to be evaluated and treated for left knee pain, police said.

The impact of the crash had caused a marker plate to fall off the Dodge pickup truck, police said. Police thus learned the identity of the Dodge’s owner and then contacted Danbury police for assistance in locating Dacunha in Danbury.

Dacunha was found at his home and then charged with evading responsibility and with making an improper turn. Newtown police released Dacunha from custody about 6:15 am.