Teacher Charged With Assaulting Simsbury Police Officers

SIMSBURY, CT — A visual arts teacher in the Cheshire school system was arrested Friday night in Simsbury after an altercation involving an assault on three police officers, a police spokesman said.

Byron E. Pierce, 40, of West Hartford, was charged with three counts of assault on public safety personnel, interfering with police and second-degree breach of peace. He was released on a written promise to appear in Enfield Superior Court on Dec. 13, according to Simsbury police logs.

According to a police report, officers were dispatched to The Riverview at 10 Winslow Place at 10:29 p.m. on Nov. 30 for a complaint of a possible intoxicated person, later identified as Pierce, sitting in a vehicle. Pierce interfered during the investigation and resisted arrest, inflicting injuries on several officers, Lt. Frederick Sifodaskalakis said.

Pierce is a visual arts teacher at the Doolittle Elementary School in Cheshire.

Judicial records indicate he was convicted in 2011 of first-degree reckless endangerment and operating under the influence, after being arrested on May 9, 2010 by state police from Troop H. He was sentenced to a year in jail, suspended after 90 days, followed by two years probation.

Photo courtesy of Simsbury Police Department

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