Free Statement of Material Facts - District Court of Connecticut - Connecticut

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT

AUGUST PEZZENTI, JR. INDIVIDUALLY, ET AL : vs. : JOSEPH CAPALDO, ET AL

:

NO: 3:03CV00419 (MRK)

:

DECEMBER 11, 2003

DEPOSITION OF: AUGUST PEZZENTI, JR.

APPEARANCES:

WILLIAMS & PATTIS, LLC Attorneys for the Plaintiffs 51 Elm Street New Haven, CT 06510 (203) 562-9931 BY: CHRISTY DOYLE, ESQ.

HOWD & LUDORF Attorneys for the Defendants 65 Wethersfield Avenue Hartford, CT 06114 (860) 249-1361 BY: THOMAS R. GERARDE, ESQ.

IN ATTENDANCE: August Pezzenti Elizabeth Pezzenti

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1 with these other contacts. 2 3 A. I understand that. Q. So, I am just going to try and just say focused on

4 that so we can move forward. The first you heard of anything 5 was what? 6 7 A. 3:30. Q. 3:30 in the afternoon on September 12th. And what

8 did you hear? 9 A. My wife called me crying told me that the police

10 just came and took my son. 11 12 13 Q. Did she tell you anything more than that? A. She couldn't talk. She was crying. She couldn't. Q. And I can imagine that when any father hears that,

14 he doesn't just say, Okay. He says, tell me more. What is 15 happening? 16 A. I didn't say nothing. I left Southington at 3:30.

17 I was -- I left Southington at 3:30 rush hour, and I arrived 18 at the Canton -- Old Canton Police Department at quarter after 19 four. I couldn't find where to go because I was -- you know, 20 when you hear something like that, you're, kind of, upset. 21 So, I said where -- oh, no. So, I found it. They have no

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22 sign in front of the place. So, I found the police 23 department. I go in there and I says to the desk sergeant, I 24 says, Where is my son Anthony? Well, he is not here yet. And 25 I says, Well, what do you mean he's not here yet. They took

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1 him from my house at 3:30. It's twenty after four. Where is 2 my son? They don't know. He's with the officer. At 4:30 3 they pulled in with the cruiser in front of the police 4 department right by the camera. There was a camera right 5 there. I ran over to the car. I was crying. I said, 6 Anthony, come with me. Capaldo says, he is in our custody 7 right now. You cannot talk to him. I says okay. I says, 8 what is my son doing in the front seat of that cruiser with no 9 seat belt or nothing on and what are you doing with my son for 10 a whole hour coming from the police department when we live 11 probably a half mile to a mile from the new police department? 12 Why did you have my son with you for an hour? 13 14 Q. What was the response? A. That's the way it is. They had -- no. They said

15 they had other calls. So, what they did is they took Anthony 16 on a couple of the road calls. Some person broke down, 17 another one was a car accident. And they left him in the 18 cruiser with it running while they investigated these other 19 two people. 20 Q. Did you find that out from Anthony?

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A. Yes, I did. Anthony was very, very upset when he

22 got to the police department. He says, Daddy, they took me on 23 a ride. They did this and, you know -24 Q. Okay. So, at some point you -- I want to just take

25 you through some of this again. After your wife tells you

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1 that the police came and took Anthony, are you saying that you 2 didn't ask her what for? 3 A. No. I didn't ask her nothing, no. I asked -- she

4 said that the police were here and they took Anthony. And I 5 said, Where is he? She says, They took him to the police 6 department. That's all because she was crying so bad I 7 couldn't really understand her. 8 Q. Did you ask her what police officers were there?

9 Did you know the names then? 10 11 A. No. I didn't ask her anything. Q. Okay. And just so I'm clear, as of that time you

12 hadn't had any problems with any Canton Police Officer 13 including Capaldo and Krupa? 14 15 16 A. No. Q. I am correct about that? A. Well, I had those other incidents, but it wasn't

17 nothing for a long time. You know what I mean? 18 Q. Well, but I thought before -- in other words, every

19 connection or contact with Capaldo and Krupa was a positive 20 experience --

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21 22 23 24

A. Oh, yes. Q. -- for you? MS. DOYLE: Object to the form. Q. (By Mr. Gerarde) In other words -- let me say it

25 differently, then. The contacts that you had with the Canton

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1 Police Department were not anything negative from your 2 perspective -3 4 A. No. Q. -- in terms of you didn't feel they treated you

5 unfairly, am I right about that -6 7 8 9 A. Yes. Q. -- as of September 12th of '02? A. Yes. Q. Okay. So, when you heard that the Canton Police had

10 custody of your son, it wasn't something that stirred up any 11 old beef you had with the police? 12 13 14 A. No. Q. All right. So, you arrive at the police department. A. I left Southington, which Southington to

15 Collinsville is about 27 miles. I traveled to get there at 16 rush hour. 17 Q. So, your best recollection is sometime around

18 quarter after four you arrived? 19 A. I know I left Southington at 3:30, and I arrived at

20 the old police department at quarter after four. I got

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21 directions and I went a mile down the road and I was at their 22 police department at 4:20. 23 24 25 Q. You were at the new police department -A. Right. Q. -- at 4:20?

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A. Yes, and my son was not there. Q. And you went into the lobby and the desk sergeant

3 said, He is not here yet? 4 5 A. Yes. Q. And how long after that conversation was it that you

6 then saw the cruiser pull in with Anthony? 7 8 9 10 A. The cruiser pulled in at about 4:30, 4:35. Q. Okay. A. Right up front by the camera, too. Q. When you say by the camera, did the cruiser pull

11 into -12 A. No. They pulled in front of the police department.

13 There are cameras right on the poles there. 14 Q. Okay. So, they didn't bring Anthony in the way they

15 bring prisoners in? 16 17 A. No. They came through the front door. Q. What you have told me is that when you saw the

18 cruiser pull up, you didn't wait for Anthony to walk in, you 19 walked over to the cruiser? 20 A. I ran right out to the cruiser, right to Anthony's

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21 door. 22 Q. Okay. And what was his demeanor at that time? Was

23 he -24 25 A. He was crying. Q. He was crying?

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A. Yes. Q. Crying out loud or tears running -A. Crying and very, very upset that he wanted -- that

4 he -- of what was going on. 5 Q. Okay. So, you saw Anthony crying and he was in the

6 front seat of the cruiser? 7 8 9 A. Yes, he was. Q. How many police officers were with him? A. One. Officer Capaldo -- no. Krupa was driving.

10 Anthony was over here, and Capaldo -- I never seen Capaldo 11 come in. 12 Q. Okay. So, you see Krupa pull up to the police

13 department in a cruiser with Anthony seated in the front seat 14 next to him? 15 16 17 18 19 20 A. Yes. Q. And Anthony you say was crying? A. Yes. Q. And when you went over and spoke to Anthony -A. He wouldn't even let me speak to him. Q. So, you went and spoke to the policeman first?

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A. I went to the door. And as I went to the door to

22 see Anthony, he came around and says, Stay away. He's in our 23 custody now. 24 Q. Just so I get a picture of that, you were trying to

25 get to Anthony's door which was -- is that right?

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A. This is the police department here. This is the

2 driveway in between. This is the police department. They 3 came in like that, came up in front of the police 4 department -5 6 Q. Okay. A. -- parked the cruiser by a sidewalk. The camera is

7 here on the pole. I came running out of the police 8 department. I went around to the side of the cruiser door and 9 Anthony was crying. He came out and went around this way as 10 if I was going to grab him and he says, Get away. I said, my 11 kid is upset here. 12 13 Q. I'm sorry. Go ahead. A. I says, My kid is upset here, and I would like to

14 talk to him. He says, You cannot talk to him. And I says, 15 Well, I wasn't involved in this deal, you know. And I says, 16 you know, You fill me in. He says, No. He rushed him right 17 inside and put him in a locked room. 18 Q. All right. Just so I'm clear about this, you tried

19 to approach Anthony's door? 20 A. I didn't touch the door. I just ran up to him like

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21 a father would do. 22 Q. Okay. And then what happened is that Krupa got out

23 of his car? 24 25 A. The driver's door. Q. And walked around?

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CERTIFICATE

I, Christine E. Borrelli, a Notary Public and

4 Licensed Court Reporter for the State of Connecticut, do 5 hereby certify that the deposition of AUGUST PEZZENTI, JR., 6 was taken before me pursuant to the Connecticut Practice Book 7 at the Law Offices of Howd & Ludorf, 65 Wethersfield Avenue, 8 Hartford, Connecticut, commencing at 10:20 a.m. on Thursday, 9 December 11, 2003. 10 I futher certify that the witness was first sworn by

11 me to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 12 truth, and was examined by counsel, and his testimony was 13 stenographically reported by me and subsequently transcribed 14 as herein before appears. 15 I further certify that I am not related to the

16 parties hereto or their counsel, and that I am not in any way 17 interested in the events of said cause. 18 19 20 Witness my hand this 28th day of December, 2003.

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21 ____________________________ Christine E. Borrelli Notary Public 23 CT License No. 117 My Commission Expires: 24 June 30, 2006 22 25

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