The Next Career Move

10Mar10

The Inevitable Conclusion

Documents show Stratford officials knew of cop’s seizures
By Richard Weizel, STAFF WRITER
Published: 09:26 p.m., Tuesday, March 9, 2010

STRATFORD — Documents and audiotapes obtained by the Connecticut Post through the state’s Freedom of Information Act show Stratford officials knew that police Officer Justin LoSchiavo had a history of seizures years before he crashed his cruiser into four cars last June.

Documents also reveal that despite being rejected as a police officer candidate in 2005 because of “medical” reasons — and admissions that he stole town property, smoked marijuana, abused sick days and failed to report income to the IRS — LoSchiavo nonetheless was hired a year later.

LoSchiavo, son of former Deputy Police Chief Joseph LoSchiavo and Human Resources Assistant Linda LoSchiavo, was involved in an accident last June 6 when he lost control of his cruiser and crashed into four cars. The accident occurred while LoSchiavo was having a seizure — a medical condition known to Stratford officials and police, but something they initially refused to acknowledge.

It was nearly six weeks after the accident that Police Chief John Buturla confirmed LoSchiavo was having a seizure during the accident, and that it likely caused the crash.

On the morning of the accident, both dispatchers and officers can be heard on the tapes talking about LoSchiavo’s history of seizures, and speculating whether it caused the crash. LoSchiavo’s father, who had already retired by the time of the accident, can also be heard on the tapes identifying himself and asking a dispatcher what happened.

One dispatcher can be heard in a call to Assistant Fire Chief Ellen Murray saying, “One of our police officers, Justin LoSchiavo, has been involved in a car crash,” adding, “He has a history of seizures, but we don’t know yet if that was the cause of the accident.”

A dispatcher can also be heard on the tapes frantically telling the ambulance driver to change his Bridgeport Hospital destination to St. Vincent’s Medical Center because “the family says they are aware of his condition there.”

The files and audiotapes were released late last week as town officials continue to grapple with whether to place LoSchiavo, 31, back on patrol duty after being on “light duty” for six months. They can also dismiss him for a medical condition they believe likely should have precluded the administration of then-Mayor James R. Miron from hiring him in the first place.

LoSchiavo’s maximum 180 days of light duty expired last month under the police union’s collective bargaining agreement, but all parties agreed to extend that four weeks while town officials evaluate a town neurologist’s recent medical report they said was “inconclusive.”

“We have now submitted additional questions to the physician (Dr. Samuel Bridgers in Hamden), and expect to have the information we need shortly,” said Adam Bauer, chief of staff for Mayor John A. Harkins. “We want to assure residents the mayor’s top priorities are public safety and protecting the town from a potentially damaging lawsuit. We need more information from the doctor, as the town attorney’s office continues to evaluate his (LoSchiavo’s) lengthy personnel files.”

Personnel files released to the Connecticut Post raise questions about incidents in LoSchiavo’s past, including:

admitting to smoking marijuana on several occasions.

admitting to stealing town property, specifically grass seed in 2003 from the town’s Department of Public Works, where he was an employee at the time.

failing to provide an up-to-date driver’s license on several occasions — during interviews in Stratford and with at least one of the other eight departments where he applied to be a police officer. Explanations from the applicant ranged from “forgetting” his license to “leaving it at a girlfriend’s house.”

admitting to working “under the table” in previous jobs and not reporting the income to the Internal Revenue Service.

taking sick days when he wasn’t ill in prior jobs, and being late without his supervisor’s knowledge.

The files show that Miron hired LoSchiavo as a police officer on June 1, 2006, despite a warning by Nelson Dinihanian — a former detective assigned to conduct a preliminary background check — that the check he was conducting be discontinued because a town doctor indicated the applicant’s medical condition would place the town and department at risk.

But, without explanation, that didn’t stop the process from moving ahead several months later after Dinihanian had retired.

After last year’s accident, which occurred at the intersection of Stratford and Beardsley avenues with eyewitnesses — including a former nurse — insisting LoSchiavo was in the throes of a seizure, Miron declined on numerous occasions to answer questions raised in the Dinihanian report.

Prior to being hired, however, the town did send LoSchiavo to another town-appointed doctor — which officials said was rare — who cleared him to attend the state’s Police Academy in Meriden.

Subsequently, a May 19, 2006, report from now-retired Capt. Andrew Knapp recommended LoSchiavo be hired. “The main problems relate to medical issues which are outside the scope of this investigation,” Knapp wrote. “The candidate is recommended for employment with reservation for that reason.”

Long sections of the personnel files are redacted, which town officials said came at the request of LoSchiavo.

However, the files also cite several reference letters, including one from a psychiatrist, who strongly endorses LoSchiavo as someone who is good at defusing and moderating disputes. He was also praised after being on the force by Buturla for showing “considerable” compassion to a woman whose husband died in June 2008 after suffering a heart attack while driving and crashing his car.

In a statement released Tuesday, LoSchiavo’s Bridgeport lawyer Jon A. August said his client “provided complete and direct responses posed to him in the course of the interview and hiring process.” August disputed the town’s contention that the most recent medical report is inconclusive.

“The relevant issue is Justin’s fitness for duty,” August said. “That is or will be a medical determination. We have had an opportunity to review a typed, signed report issued by the town’s selected medical examiner. It addresses the medical issues which pre-existed Justin’s hiring and is the subject of the current inquiry. It is our understanding of the report that the town’s doctor is of the opinion that Justin is capable of returning to work as an officer on a full-time basis.

“The town suggests the report was incomplete and lacked clarity. A review of that report would clearly show that it was thorough, specific and complete,” August said. “The medical issue is the threshold issue … the rest is simply a political smokescreen.”

Smokescreen? The only smokescreen here is from Justin’s cigarettes while he’s standing in back of the PD.

Filed under: Stratford Political Theater   |  130 Comments
Tags: Buturla, Imbro, Loschiavo, Miron