Lisa Backus
New Haven Register, Conn.
The town’s emergency management director was placed on leave with pay on June 21 — five weeks before he was charged by state police with impersonating an officer and tampering with evidence, the mayor said.
Walter Dambowsky is accused of pulling over a driver using his town-issued black Chevy Tahoe that’s equipped with lights and a siren and flashing a badge on June 3, according to the warrant for his arrest. The driver filed a complaint with police saying she had been pulled over by an older man who was driving a black SUV.
The man, later identified as Dambowsky, didn’t respond when she asked if he was a police officer, according to a statement she provided to police, the warrant said. Dambowsky flashed a gold badge in his wallet and told her that he wasn’t giving her a ticket before saying he didn’t want anyone hurt, the warrant said.
Dambowsky, 74, was in the second year of his three-year contract with the town making an annual salary of $80,000 when the June 3 incident occurred, Naugatuck Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess said. Dambowsky previously served on a part-time basis for 18 years, Hess said.
The town’s Human Resources department is now conducting its own review of the incident in addition to the criminal investigation, the mayor said. Other town officials, including Hess and his staff, are carrying out Dambowsky’s duties while he is on leave, he said.
State police said in the warrant that the town received other similar complaints, including one as recently as April 10. Dambowsky had been told by a Naugatuck police captain that he shouldn’t use the lights and siren on his town-issued vehicle unless it was within the scope of his duties as emergency management director.
State police took over the investigation on June 7, and by June 25, they learned Dambowsky had likely tampered with the dash camera by switching fuses and digital memory cards to erase any recorded interaction with the driver who complained, the warrant said. Another video recording obtained by state police showed his vehicle in the area of the traffic stop in the timeframe when it occurred but didn’t show the stop, the warrant said.
Dambowsky declined to speak to police about the incident, the warrant said. While executing a search warrant at his home, state police found a piece of paper with the description of what constitutes criminal impersonation of a police officer that had been printed from the state’s Judicial Branch law library, according to the warrant.
State police examining his town-issued vehicle found two blown fuses of the incorrect size that were connected to the SUV’s dash camera leading investigators to conclude Dambowsky had replaced the fuses to make the camera inoperable after he learned he might be in trouble, the warrant said. The only recordings found on the camera were for a four-day period at the end of June around the time when state police had seized the SUV, according to the warrant.
“Based upon the printed materials recovered in Dambowsky’s residence, it is evident that he believed a criminal investigation was being conducted,” the warrant said. “It is further evident that he altered the digital footage to remove audio and/or video recordings of the incident.”
He was also charged with second-degree breach of peace. Dambowsky was released after posting $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Danbury on Aug. 20.
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