Bridgeport Police Officers Caught Up in Bar Raid Receive Suspensions

BRIDGEPORT, CT — Two veteran Bridgeport police officers received 30-day suspensions, without pay, after they were found violating department policy by working as bouncers at a city bar when police arrested more than 70 underage drinkers during a raid, according to the Connecticut Post.

The raid on the Golden Star Café on Main Street occurred in early April, about a week after a 19-year-old Sacred Heart University student reported that she was raped by a man who posed as an Uber driver.

Bridgeport Police conducted the raid on the bar just hours after Alfonso Reid, 39, of Bridgeport, was arrested in connection to the March 30 sexual assault of the student.

• Related: Disturbing Details Emerge in Alleged Sexual Assault of Sacred Heart University Student

The Connecticut Post reports the officers who were suspended for working as bouncers at the bar were Officer Chris Smith, an eight-year member of the force, and Officer Andrew Talavera, an 18-year veteran who was also passed over for a promotion and has been removed from the department’s SWAT team.

Bridgeport Police Chief Armando Perez also confirmed to Daniel Tepfer of the Post that video from the Golden Star Café showed Talavera spraying the 19-year-old Sacred Heart University student with whipped cream in the bar shortly before she reported the alleged rape to police.

Reid, whose prior convictions include attempted murder, assault and gun possession, is awaiting trial for the case.

Read more at the Connecticut Post here.

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