Anderson firing: What's next?
By Frank Juliano
STAFF WRITER
Updated: 12/15/2009 11:11:57 PM EST
MILFORD -- Being fired by the Milford police for driving recklessly in a crash that killed two people would not by itself keep Jason Anderson -- or any other officer in the same circumstances -- from being hired by another department.
Municipal police officers are certified by the state through the Police Officer Standards and Training program. The Meriden agency, headed by former Milford Chief Tom Flaherty, runs the training academy used by several area communities, including Milford.
Speaking in general terms and not about Anderson in particular, Sgt. Vaughan Dumas, a Milford Police Department spokesman, said that it would be up to each department whether to hire an officer fired somewhere else, and up to the POST program whether to certify the officer.
Police officers may not have felony records, so Anderson would have to be exonerated of the charges that he faces in the deaths of Ashlie Krakowski and David Servin, both 19, before he would be allowed to resume his law enforcement career.
Anderson was fired by the Board of Police Commissioners on Monday night for violating departmental policy, specifically the requirement that officers obey all traffic laws when not responding to an emergency.
State Police say that Anderson was traveling 94 mph when his cruiser broadsided the car carrying Servin and Krakowski early in the morning of June 13 on the Boston Post Road.
The commissioners Monday night also suspended another officer, Richard Pisani, for 30 days without pay in connection with the incident, and extended Pisani's probationary period, due to end in February, for another year.
But if Pisani completes his term as a probationary officer and joins the regular force, the incident will have no impact on his future police career, officials said.
Anderson and Pisani were heading back to Milford from a mutual-aid call in West Haven on the night of the accident. A video camera installed in Pisani's cruiser recorded both officers speeding far above the posted limit of 40 mph. Pisani accelerated up to 72 mph and was driving at about 65 when Anderson barreled passed him on the right, shortly before crashing into the teens.
Police officials said that probationary officers are closely supervised in the field and their performance is reviewed monthly. But Milford officials would not say who was supervising Pisani on the morning of the double-fatal crash.
Sgt. Richard Anderson, Jason Anderson's brother, was the first Milford officer at the scene of the crash, at the intersection of the Boston Post Road and Dogwood Road in Orange.
Jason Anderson, charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter and reckless driving, is free on $250,000 bond and is next scheduled to appear Jan. 13 in state Superior Court in Milford. Pisani does not face criminal charges.
Commissioners went to unusual lengths Monday night to conduct the disciplinary hearings without any taint of questionable procedures. Chairman Carleton Giles, a Norwalk police officer, recused himself, citing his professional contact with police union officials.
A full page of "ground rules'' for covering the public portions of the hearing were given to the media, and none of the commissioners took questions afterward.
Chief Keith Mello read a prepared statement and the department's spokesman relayed his answers to written questions from reporters.
Several times officers said that the measures were being taken because of "potential litigation," but would not say whether they thought Anderson or Pisani might seek to overturn the actions taken against them. Lawyers for the families of the teens have filed notices of intent to sue the city and the Police Department.
Eric Brown, the legal counsel for the Connecticut Association of Police Unions, Council 15, did not return a reporter's phone call Tuesday.
The Anderson file n Jason Anderson, 34, was a Milford police officer for five years. n Prior to that, he had been a member of the Darien police force. n He had two minor motor vehicle accidents before the June 13 crash in Orange that killed two teens. Both occurred while he was backing a police cruiser into a parking space. n Anderson was commended for individual bravery and received five unit citations, a service award presented by the Board of Police Commissioners. n He had one civilian complaint on his personnel record, but the complaint of conduct unbecoming an officer was not sustained after an internal investigation. n Anderson had been on paid administrative leave since his arrest on Nov. 10. n He had returned to work in late summer, on light duty, as he recovered from a chest injury in the crash. n Anderson worked the 3 to 11 p.m. shift and was a member of the department's special tactical unit. He earned a base salary of $57,144.
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