Police1 Staff Report
(NAUGATUCK, Conn.) -- A Connecticut police officer faces a disciplinary hearing for the death of a 16-year-old girl who hanged herself in a cell at the Naugatuck police headquarters.
The Connecticut Post reports that the Police Commission found Sgt. Rick Smolicz negligent. A lawyer who investigated the death of Falan Fox said that Smolicz, the on-duty sergeant, failed to physically check the inmates every 30 minutes or to designate someone else to do it.
Fox committed suicide July 22, a day after her arrest on charges of robbery and assault. Smolicz and another officer were using a video monitor to keep an eye on prisoners but did not notice anything amiss until a dispatcher came on duty and saw that she was not moving.
The commission could dismiss Smolicz after the hearing.