Naugatuck Police Say Lessons To Be Learned from Intoxicated Woman Sleeping in Stranger's House

Naugatuck Police Lt. Bryan Cammarata offers a unique police perspective on an arrest that got a lot of attention yesterday. For a refresher course a Naugatuck woman was arrested after she was found allegedly intoxicated and sleeping in a stranger’s house. The woman told police she thought she was sleeping in her friend’s house but that turned out not to be the case.

Here is Lt. Cammarata’s take on the unique arrest.

“Ok, now let’s start with an incident that just occurred over the weekend here in the Borough ...

Before beginning though, I must put out a disclaimer noting that:

“All persons in these segments are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law and that we reserve the right to change the names of those involved (if names are used at all) to protect the innocent” ... (And yes - this disclaimer is a combination of the one used from the show “Cops” and i think the one from “One Adam 12”- thanks for noticing and asking!!)

...seems that on Sunday evening our officers responded to a residence on lower Spring Street on a report of a woman sleeping in a bed... Now this would not be an unusual occurrence if the woman lived in the home...or was visiting the home...or even knew the residents...But - She did not... (See - this is why this incident is making it into this segment!!) ...what the residents did discover was A STRANGE woman sleeping in a bed in one of their bedrooms - they of course then did what any of us in the same situation should have done - they called 911!

- now let’s not downplay how scary it is to discover a total stranger in your home, snoozing away... and the residents did comment to the officers that they thought they may have been burglarized and immediately exited the home and dialed 911 - which is absolutely the proper way to handle this type of situation - (very nicely handled by these residents!) ...so in come our fine officers to investigate - and what do they discover...well, believe it or not...a strange woman sleeping in a bed in a bedroom of the home!! .. The officers reported that the woman was “face down” and totally out...the officers try to wake her ...and ...nothing - She is snoozing!! ...they continue to try and wake her ...until

....she eventually does wake up...but then the officers report that’s she is completely disoriented...and is “emitting an odor associated with alcoholic beverage from her person” (this typically is police jargon for “She’s drunk”)...When the officers ask her what she is doing in the home, she tells them that she is at a friends home and that the friend let her in (ummm - yea... not so much!) ...she goes on to state that she is in the friends home located on City Hill Street....which ....she obviously was not!! (We can’t make this stuff up people!!!)

Now - let’s skip ahead to the “Too Bad” part; - Yada...yada...yada - the officers remove the woman from the home and arrested and charged her with Criminal Trespass in the third degree and Disorderly Conduct... And this of course is just plain “too bad” for her (but very good for our residents... I guess that could also be the name of this segment “that’s too good Tuesday”... But “Too Bad” has a nicer ring...so let’s stick with it!!)

Now,we know this incident sounds oddly familiar to the old nursery tale called “Goldilocks and the three bears”...except, our version obviously involved way more than 3 beers!!!

...so there it is - that is our first installment of “Too Bad Tuesday” - the lesson to be learned here:

A) ALWAYS make sure your home is locked (the residents in this incident thought the home was locked however they were not positive - and there were no signs of the residence being forced into)

B) If you are going to drink...please do so responsibly - particularly by making certain that someone you are with is sober -so that you wind up back where you belong - safe and sound / and we can’t emphasize enough the “back where you BELONG part” in relation to this particular point!

Thank you all - and please have a great Tuesday!