Redding Police: New Documents Shed Light On Probe of Chief Fuchs

REDDING, CT — Redding Police Chief Douglas Fuchs unfairly maligned the reputation of an emergency medical technician who complained about how the chief had treated him when they both responded to a crash in December 2016, according to an investigative report into the accident and its aftermath. The EMT alleged that the chief belittled him, delayed him from examining the patient and, when he later filed a complaint, lied about him.

The report, obtained by Patch, was written by lawyer Patrick McHale who was hired by the city in July to investigate the situation. He is also investigating Fuchs's conduct during the response in April 2016 to the suicide of Peter Valenti who was apparently still alive when officers discovered him hanging from a noose but did nothing to help him until long after they arrived. Police originally thought his body was a dummy.

In that case, an EMT also alleged that Fuchs had delayed him for about 30 minutes from examining Valenti. When Valenti was finally examined, he still had heart activity but was pronounced dead later at the hospital. The investigation into that case is ongoing.

McHale's investigation into the December car crash and its aftermath was spurred by complaints from the EMT, Sebastian Martinez, and the police union. Patch has obtained a copy of that report and reached out to city officials for comment but have not heard back.

The crash happened just before 8 a.m. by Blackrock Turnpike and Newtown Turnpike.

The EMT filed a complaint after the crash charging that Fuchs had belittled, demeaned, and disregarded him. Fuchs then filed a four-page rebuttal, saying that Martinez had acted unprofessionally and had "soured" on the police. It was supported by an officer at the scene.

That led to a more detailed complaint by Martinez as well as a separate complaint by the police union charging that the officer who backed the chief's rebuttal had been intimidated into doing so.

The complaints led the city to present Fuchs with a list of 14 allegations against him. He has been suspended without pay since October 31.

McHale, who was hired by the city in July to investigate the allegations, conducted more than half a dozen interviews. He concluded that of the 14 allegations, 12 were either unfounded or not substantiated. Two of them were – including unfairly maligning Martinez and engaging in behavior unbecoming of a city employee.

McHale took issue with the chief's his memo responding to the complaint filed by Martinez.

"Where I believe Fuchs crossed the line in his rebuttal memo," McHale writes, "is when he attacks Martinez's reputation stating, 'I am aware from personal knowledge that this department as well as at least one other police department has a history with Martinez.

"I am not sure when he soured against the police – but this is by no means an isolated incident.'"

Fuchs had gone on to write that Martinez's behavior "needs to be addressed."

McHale says the chief's response was unwarranted.

"Such veiled allegations by Fuchs, unsupported by specifics, do attack Martinez's character and reputation and were unfairly made," McHale writes.

"Further there was no reason for him to include such characterizations in his rebuttal if the purpose of his memo... was just to respond to Martinez's claims."

Those actions by Fuchs led McHale to conclude that the chief had unfairly maligned Martinez and had engaged in behavior unbecoming an employee of the town.

As for the complaint from the union that Police Officer Anthony Signore was intimidated into signing off on Fuchs's rebuttal, McHale delivers a split decision. He writes that the union's claim of intimidation was not substantiated. At the same time, he wrote that Signore told him that he had "felt pressured" and "fear" that if he didn't do what Fuchs wanted, he could lose his job.

"Do I feel like I was under duress?" McHale quotes Signore as saying. "I definitely felt pressured."

At the same time, Signore said that while he was afraid for his job, " Would I say it was intimidation, no."

McHale writes that, "Fuchs showed poor judgment by unnecessarily involving Officer Signore. His position of authority in the Police Department made it difficult, if not impossible, for Signore to feel he could reasonably decline the Chief's request."

No timetable has been set for the conclusion of the investigation into Valenti's suicide.

Lawyers representing Valenti's family contend in a lawsuit that he would still be alive but for police conduct delaying aid. They recently dropped the police department as a defendant since the department is part of the city and not a separate legal entity.

The city, Fuchs, and the other officers who responded to the scene are named as defendants.

That suit was recently transferred to Westbury Superior Court where it will be heard as a complex litigation case.

File photo of Chief Douglas Fuchs by Christopher Capozziello, Stringer/Getty Images News/Getty Images