Two Meriden Police Officers Suspended Over 'Disgraceful' Actions: Chief

Two Meriden Police officers have been suspended after an internal investigation.

Officer John Slepski was suspended unpaid for 60 days and Officer John Slezak was suspended for five days, according to the Record-Journal. An internal affairs report found the officers responded to a Sept. 15, 2015 incident where a reportedly intoxicated man was found lying in the fetal position in the street.

Body cameras caught Slepski calling the man various expletives and threatening to use pepper spray to get the man up, according to the report. Slezak was overheard agreeing that pepper spray should be used.

The police union said the discipline was excessive. Chief Jeffry Cossette called Slepski’s actions “disgraceful.”

Read the full Record-Journal story and Cossette’s discipline letters to the officers here.