A correction officer at the Brooklyn Correctional Institution has been placed on administrative leave after he was arrested, accused of impersonating a police officer during an incident in Mansfield.
State police said troopers met with a woman just after 8 p.m. on June 14 about something that had happened earlier in the evening.
She said that she was driving around with a friend and they were stopped at a stop sign, looking up directions, when they waved another driver to pass them and he called her friend an expletive.
They then followed his vehicle and the man, identified as 58-year-old David Wright, of Ashford, immediately pulled over, started yelling at them and took out what looked like a police badge, according to the arrest warrant.
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The woman said Wright identified himself as a police officer and threatened to arrest them and use a stun gun.
Wright told the people that he thought they were going to cut him off after waving him on, the arrest warrant says.
The conversation then turned to where everyone was from and people they knew in common.
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Then, at the end of a discussion that went on for around 20 minutes, Wright asked the people in the car to go to his house sometime and have a beer and gave them his name and phone number.
The woman who contacted police told them she was more worried about her safety than having Wright arrested, but wanted to report what happened after speaking with a family member who was in law enforcement.
When police spoke with Wright, he told them that he was frustrated after waving the victim to go through the intersection, but they did not move and he pulled out his Connecticut Department of Correction badge after they got behind him, said he was a correctional officer and asked what the problem was, the arrest warrant says. He told police he was in an agitated state at the beginning of the conversation, did not identify himself as a police officer or threaten them and made it clear that he knew he didn’t have the power to arrest people.
He also said he thought the victims were funny and gave them his contact information before leaving the scene.
State police arrested Wright Thursday and charged him with impersonation of a police officer, breach of peace in the second degree and threatening in the second degree.
The Connecticut Department of Correction said Wright has been employed by the department since 2008 and he was placed on administrative leave with pay as of June 18, pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
Bond for Wright was set at $5,000 and Wright is due in court on June 27.
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