By Jeff Mill, Middletown Press (Middletown, Conn.)
CROMWELL, Conn. -- Police are praising the quick thinking of a police dispatcher, who determined that a suspect accused of creating a disturbance had given police the name of a dead man who was his brother.
Once the subterfuge was discovered, police returned to the man’s home and re-arrested him.
The incident occurred just before 10 p.m., Friday, at the Daata Main convenience store on West Street.
Store employees called police to say a man was “acting suspicious,” and had fled the store on foot. Police units, including Officer Frederick Gengler and Argo, the department’s K-9, responded. Argo quickly picked up a scent, and police pursued the individual before finally capturing him without incident.
Once in custody, the man identified himself to police as Gary Paul Kowaleski, 21, of 2 Robin Lane, Cromwell. He was cited for creating a public disturbance, was freed on a written promise to appear and driven to a private residence by police.
But, while that was occurring, Police Chief Anthony J. Salvatore said, “One of our dispatchers, Renee Bruscia, took it upon herself to do some additional checking.”
Using the Internet, Bruscia quickly determined that whoever the man was, he was not Gary Paul Kowaleski, because Gary Kowaleski had died in Hartford on Dec. 12, 2003.
Gary Kowaleski was found lying in a downtown Hartford intersection suffering from what were termed “serious injuries.” He was transported to St. Francis Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Armed with that information, police returned where they had let off the suspect. They confronted the man and arrested him. He then admitted that he was really Charles M. Kowaleski, the dead man’s brother.
Charles Kowaleski was charged with criminal impersonation, interfering with a police officer and second-degree forgery -- for signing the wrong name to his bond form.
But Kowaleski’s trouble had only just begun, Salvatore said.
Now that they were in possession of his correct name, police went back and searched their files: they discovered that Charles Kowaleski was wanted by Cromwell and Plainville police.
He was wanted in Cromwell on a charge of second-degree failure to appear, in connection with an earlier arrest for breach of peace, Salvatore said. And he is wanted in Plainville for first-degree criminal mischief, on a charge of carrying a weapon in a motor vehicle.
Kowaleski was ordered held over the weekend at police headquarters in lieu of $8,000 bond. He was presented Monday in Middlesex Superior Court.
Salvatore hailed the work of Bruscia, saying, “I want to commend Ms. Bruscia for her initiative and her diligence.”
Bruscia has been a dispatcher for less than a year.