Police Focused On Better Traffic Control In 2008

By Andrew Gorosko

During 2008, town police focused their energies on the problems posed by traffic, as it affects the local quality of life.

In response to public calls for better control of traffic problems, town police last summer formed a two-member traffic enforcement unit comprising Officer Steve Ketchum, who rides a police motorcycle when weather permits, and Officer David Kullgren, who drives an unmarked police sedan designed for traffic enforcement.

The traffic unit seeks to make local roads safer by reducing speeding, cutting the number of distracted driver violations, and by enforcing state seatbelt laws, according to Lieutenant George Sinko, who oversees the unit.

The impetus for better traffic control townwide came from a group of residents of the Queen Street/Glover Avenue area who lobbied for better control over traffic in that area, which is near two public schools.

Toward that goal, the town in September installed an experimental raised crosswalk on Glover Avenue, near its intersection with Meadow Road. The portable device consists of a broad speed bump with crosswalk markings painted atop it.

The town had planned to install a second such device in front of Newtown Middle School on Queen Street at its intersection with Lorraine Drive in December.

But because the raised crosswalk on Glover Avenue could not withstand the rigors of snowplowing, it was removed. The town is now reconsidering the best designs for raised crosswalks on those streets.

Also, town police continued their program of heightened enforcement of drunken driving laws, with the use of sobriety checkpoints, as well as roving patrols to find drunk drivers and take them off the roads.

Police also are now enforcing a stricter set of state laws restricting the actions of 16- and 17-year-old drivers, including a driving curfew, as well as passenger restrictions.

Hit And Run

Having exhausted the leads in their investigation into a hit-and-run accident that seriously injured an 8-year-old local boy, in March the police closed that investigation without finding a suspect in the October 2007 collision. Police have said they would reopen the case if new information were to become available.

At dusk on October 17, 2007, as the boy was crossing Queen Street, just north of its intersection with Borough Lane, he was struck by a southbound vehicle that momentarily stopped after the impact, but then drove away from the scene. The boy has recovered from his injuries.

During the first half of 2008, the school system experienced a rash of baseless bomb threats at both Newtown Middle School and Newtown High School.

In August, police arrested a 14-year-old boy on two criminal charges for allegedly having made two bomb threats at Newtown Middle School last May, while he was an eighth grader there.

Police said they arrested the boy on a warrant on August 3 on charges of falsely reporting an incident and breach of peace in connection with baseless bomb threats that occurred at the school at 11 Queen Street on May 13 and on May 6.

Also, in June, police arrested a male Newtown High School student in connection with a baseless May 8 bomb threat there, which resulted in an evacuation of the high school followed by a police search for a bomb that did not exist. Police arrested that boy on charges of first-degree threatening and breach of peace.

Because both youths were under age 18 when the crimes occurred, state law conceals their identities. Thus, the court dispositions of their cases are undisclosed.

Trudeau Sentenced

In November, a Danbury Superior Court judge spared a Westport couple from serving prison time because the pair came up with almost $122,000 in restitution to be distributed to the customers of the now-defunct Newtown Oil Company, who were bilked of that money in late 2002, when the firm failed to honor fraudulent prepaid contracts for home heating fuel delivery.

William A. Trudeau, Jr, 45, and his wife, Heather Bliss, 33, however, did receive lengthy suspended prison sentences, plus probation, intended to serve as a deterrent against their again committing white-collar crimes.

In August, Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss were each found guilty of nine felonies in the Newtown Oil Company scam involving the firm’s failure to deliver #2 home heating fuel in late 2002 to about 1,400 customers from nine towns who had entered prepaid fuel contracts with the firm. Newtown Oil was formerly located at 47-49 South Main Street. The firm went out of business in December 2002. Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss operated the firm.

Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss are each guilty of three counts of first-degree larceny, four counts of second-degree larceny involving a victim over age 60, one count of second-degree larceny, and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny. The state did not prosecute criminal charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, and conspiracy to commit second-degree larceny against Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss.

In court, Mr Trudeau received an effective 25-year suspended prison sentence, plus five years of probation and other penalties. Ms Bliss received a 15-year suspended sentence, plus five years’ probation and other penalties.

NHS Incident

In a February incident, members of a group of Newtown High School students who were at a Saturday high school detention session for punishment, allegedly forcibly bound one of the youths to a chair with plastic wrap. The bound boy toppled over and hit his head on a tile floor, leaving him briefly unconscious.

The incident resulted in the arrest of seven NHS students on charges including first-degree unlawful restraint, first-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree assault, second-degree threatening, and criminal conspiracy. The unlawful restraint charge is a felony.

The students videotaped the incident, and then posted a video clip and a still image of the activity on the Internet, unwittingly providing detailed evidence for their court prosecution.

Seven of the eight youths were under age 18 at the time of the incident, so state law conceals their identities. The one youth whose identity was disclosed has had his case sealed in court. 

In early December, police arrested two people on criminal charges in connection with a string of thefts from vehicles in Sandy Hook that extended from last February to September, during which police received approximately 65 larceny complaints.

Those arrests brought to four the number of people charged in the thefts, most of which involved the thieves simply opening unlocked vehicles parked near homes during the nighttime and stealing small valuable items, such as digital music players, automotive navigation systems, and satellite radios. Stolen items included cash, cameras, cellphones, compact discs, audio equipment, laptop computers, and credit cards.

The rash of thefts had become so widespread that police enlisted the use of the Code Red system to warn all residents about the problem. In August, police employed the automated telephone calling system to disseminate information on crime prevention in light of the rash of thefts from vehicles.

Also, on the night of December 20, local emergency staffers mounted a major, urgent nighttime search/rescue operation in the dark, rugged, snow-laden terrain of the 794-acre Upper Paugussett State Forest.

A search team located a lost 32-year-old man and his dog and brought to them to safety via boat on Lake Lillinonah. They had become lost in the cold woods earlier that day while taking a hike.

In August, the state Department of Transportation (DOT) said that in view of changing economic conditions, plus bridge constructability issues, the state is now considering building a new, less costly, Route 34 bridge across the Housatonic River downriver of the hydroelectric Stevenson Dam, instead of constructing a new span upriver of the dam, as has been in the planning stages for more than decade.

The dam currently carries a two-lane section of Route 34 atop it. Building a new Route 34 bridge downriver of the dam instead of upriver of the dam would be less costly and physically simpler to construct, according to DOT. The concept will be the subject of an upcoming DOT public session.