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Former Board of Education member accused of trying to kidnap wife’s son while posing as a police officer

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Christopher Taylor (Seymour Police Department)


Ethan Fry
Connecticut Post, Bridgeport
(TNS)

Aug. 28—MILFORD — A former Bridgeport Board of Education member accused of attempting to kidnap his wife’s 21-year-old son at gunpoint in Seymour while posing as a police officer received a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to lesser charges.

Christopher Taylor pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine to a charge of third-degree assault before Judge Kevin Russo at state Superior Court in Milford Monday in connection to the Nov. 23, 2019 incident. Taylor also pleaded guilty to breach of peace.

Under Alford, defendants do not agree with the allegations against them, but plead guilty and are convicted to avoid a possible greater sentence at trial.

Following Taylor’s pleas, the judge handed down a 364-day suspended sentence.

Police said that on Nov. 23, 2019, officers were dispatched to an apartment building on Pearl Street for a complaint of an assault. When officers arrived, Taylor and his wife, Stacy, who was also charged in the incident, had left, police said.

The landlord later told officers he had received a call from a man who identified himself as a police officer with warrants for the arrest of Taylor’s stepson, police said. The landlord said the man on the telephone told him both he and a female officer would be arriving at the apartment building to arrest the stepson

Police said the landlord then let Stacy Taylor into the apartment where she grabbed her son and put his arm behind his back, taking him out of the building to where Chris Taylor was waiting by a car. The witness told police it appeared Taylor and his wife were trying to force the victim into their vehicle, during which the victim broke away and Christopher Taylor said “I’ll unholster my weapon,” but the victim kept walking away and Taylor and his wife drove away.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Taylor said the case was blown out of proportion and that he wanted to defend himself at trial, but prosecutors “made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.”

He credited his attorney, Norm Pattis, with resolving the case after his relationships with several other attorneys broke down

“It was a long five years,” he said. “I’m glad it’s over. It was an awfully big to do and it turned out to be nothing.”

Though Taylor, a Republican, is not currently a public official, he said he still lives in Bridgeport and is looking forward to returning to the public eye.

In August 2022, Fairfield police charged Taylor with assaulting a teenager during a road rage incident near Ludlowe High School. In that case, Taylor received a $150 fine after pleading no contest to second-degree breach of peace.

“Now that all my pending charges are wrapped up I’ll be back in the political arena,” he said Tuesday. “I’m going to see what opportunities pop up and go at it with ambition.”

Stacy Taylor is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 12. Her lawyer, Paul Carty, said Tuesday he thinks her case will be “favorably resolved” when she returns to court next month.

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