Town Meeting Approves Police Investigation

A Windsor Locks town meeting Tuesday approved spending up to $30,000 on an outside investigation of an Oct. 29 car accident that killed a 15-year-old teenager and lead to the firing of a police officer.

"We do need some answers here," Mary Campbell, who lives on Center Street, said. "Something terribly wrong happened on Oct. 29."

Fifteen-year-old Henry Dang was killed when he was hit by a car driven by an off-duty Windsor Locks police officer, who state police charge was drinking for several hours before the accident.

Former Windsor Locks police officer Michael Koistinen, 24, of Suffield, is charged with first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter, negligent homicide with a motor vehicle, misconduct with a motor vehicle, and attempt to tamper with evidence. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on November 23 in Hartford Superior Court. His next court date is Friday.

The Windsor Locks Police Commission fired Koistinen, a probationary officer, on December 8. At the same meeting, the commission approved hiring an attorney to investigate how the policies, procedures and protocol of the department and the town were followed after the accident.

Attorney Frank Rudewicz, a former Hartford police commander, has run investigations of several police departments in the state, Kevin Deneen, the town's labor attorney, said. 

The investigation will cover areas that a criminal investigation can't and could lead to changes in policies, Deneen said. It could also lead to penalties, he added.

Participants gave differing views of whether the town should spend the money for the investigation.

Peter Coffey, who lives on Denslow Street, said he is doubtful that the money needs to be spent and that the state police are doing a good job investigating what happened.

However, Elmwood Drive resident William Rousseau, faulted the actions of Police Chief John Suchocki that night saying his actions did not lead to a clean investigation of the accident. He said Suchocki should not have let Koistinen's father, Robert, a sergeant in the department, remain the supervisor that night and should have let the lead investigator that night determine if Michael Koistinen was drunk.

"Do we really need an outside investigation to tell us no one wanted to know what happened that night," Rousseau said.

Sebastian Garofalo, a Windsor Locks police officer who lives in town, questioned why Rudewicz was chosen and not the New York State Police or the Massachusetts State Police.

Garofalo said such agencies would do a good job and avoid any possibility of conflict of interest.

"I think right now we're being judged in the court of public opinion," Garofalo said. "We come through this in the end."

Rudewicz comes heavily recommended by Hartford State's Attorney Gail Hardy as well as police chiefs around the state, Deneen said.

"It really is a small circle of people who do this," Deneen said.

Board of Finance member Douglas Glazier said he supports the investigation and believes it could lead to changes in policies and procedures.

"It may uncover some very interesting things," Glazier said.

Neal Cunningham, chairman of the police commission, said Tuesday he expects the investigation to take about a month and that Rudewicz is ready to start right away.

Cunningham said when the report is completed it will be made available to the public.

In an arrest warrant affidavit, state police said that through evidence and video they determined that Michael Koistinen had spent the evening of October 29 consuming numerous alcoholic beverages at the University of Connecticut football game in East Hartford and then in the Suffield Tavern in Suffield.

Koistinen was traveling at least 73 miles an hour when he struck Dang as he rode his bicycle on Spring Street near West Street, the warrant said. The speed limit on the street is 35 miles per hour.