Warrants: ‘Conduct’ with patient led to EMT’s suspension before firebombings
MIDDLETOWN — A Torrington EMT’s “conduct” with a patient led to his suspension hours before police say he set off Molotov cocktails at several emergency services facilities and fleeing to Pennsylvania where he was captured, according to arrest warrants released Wednesday.
Richard White, 37, was brought back to Connecticut Tuesday to face charges after police said he fled to Pennsylvania hours after the fires on Feb. 27 in Meriden, Old Saybrook and Roxbury.
White was ordered held on a combined $400,000 bond after a brief appearance Wednesday in Superior Court in Middletown. Officials said White will be arraigned Thursday in Meriden court for separate charges filed by police there.
White, who appeared via video conference for the hearing, said little as the state and his defense attorney, Angela Anastasi, discussed bond.
Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Kevin Shay told Judge Kevin Murphy the cases against White were “very serious matters.”
“They are not only dangerous to begin with, all arsons are dangerous, but they threatened each one of these communities in terms of emergency response,” Shay said.
Anastasi, in asking the judge for a lower bond, said it should be noted that White voluntarily waived extradition proceedings before his return to Connecticut. She said he has no means to post high bond.
Murphy kept the bonds as set, $150,000 for the charges in Old Saybrook and $250,000 for charges in Meriden.
“There’s a significant risk of flight,” Murphy said. “He’s already shown that by fleeing to Pennsylvania.”
A woman who attended the hearing on White’s behalf declined to comment outside the courthouse.
Old Saybrook police, who took him into custody Tuesday at Northumberland County Jail in Pennsylvania, have charged White with thirddegree arson and third-degree burglary.
Meriden police have charged White on two warrants — one with criminal attempt at first-degree arson and manufacturing of bombs and the other with breach of peace and third-degree criminal mischief.
State police said White is also suspected of setting fire to the Roxbury EMS and fire headquarters and a nearby house. The town’s fire marshal said White used to live in the house. State police have yet to file charges against White in these incidents, but said they were working with prosecutors to secure arrest warrants.
According to warrants in the Meriden and Old Saybrook incidents, White appeared for a disciplinary hearing at the Hunter’s Ambulance headquarters where he was suspended the morning of Feb. 27.
The Meriden arrest warrant indicates White was “placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into his conduct earlier during the day while treating a patient.”
Authorities did not provide further details about the incident.
Hunter’s Ambulance Chief Operating Officer David Lowell on Wednesday said that while the actions that led to White’s suspension are confidential, they “did not directly involve a patient.” Lowell did not provide further comment.
The warrant states that as White left the Meriden facility that day around 10:15 a.m., he was seen on surveillance video reaching into the driver’s side of an ambulance “where he appears to attack a male employee who is sitting in the driver seat of the ambulance. At this time, other employees intervened and stopped the assault.” The employees escorted White to his vehicle, the warrant stated.
The Meriden police warrant said White blamed the other employee “for the investigation being done against him” that led to his administrative leave.
In connection with the incident with his co-worker, Meriden police have asked the courts to set conditions if White is released on bond. Police are requesting the court to prohibit White from making any threats, harassment or violence toward the other person and to stay away from the Meriden Hunter’s facility.
Several hours after the altercation in Meriden, police said White went to the Hunter’s Ambulance facility in Old Saybrook and threw an ignited device into the common area around 4:15 p.m., the arrest warrant states.
William Heiney, a fire investigator and career firefighter paramedic, saw a light smoke condition in the large garage bay and started to search and clear the building, the warrant states.
Heiney found a glass jar on the carpet in the common room, which consists of a sitting area with couches, a television, a small kitchen and a table area, the warrant stated. He put out the fire with a water can, according to the warrant.
Officers arrived and found the evidence indicated someone threw the Molotov cocktail while standing close to the doorway of the common area, the warrant said.
The investigating officer contacted White, who “refused” to come to the police station because he “needed more time to ‘cool off,’” according to the warrant.
Less than an hour after the Old Saybrook incident, police said White returned to the Meriden facility and threw an ignited device out his car window at the ambulance bay around 5 p.m., the Meriden warrant states.
A Hunter’s employee at the Meriden facility found the device and put it out with a fire extinguisher. The warrant said investigators found a fire starter block and a liquid substance in the glass jar that mirrored the one in Old Saybrook.
Investigators said they connected White with the Meriden incident by surveillance footage that showed him and his vehicle, the warrant states.
An hour after the Meriden incident, authorities were called to a fire at the Roxbury EMS and fire headquarters. A second call came in shortly afterward for a fire at a nearby house, state police said.
White has not been charged in the Roxbury fires, however, police said the evidence in those blazes is consistent with the ones that occurred in Meriden and Old Saybrook.
White was arrested by Pennsylvania state police around 10 p.m. that night, about 230 miles from Roxbury. He was held in Pennsylvania until Tuesday as a fugitive from justice, authorities said.
The warrant related to the Meriden fire incident requests White be placed under 24/7 GPS surveillance and only allowed to attend pre-approved court and attorney meetings if he’s released on bond.
The warrant from Old Saybrook police states that White has no “relevant convictions.” A bond commissioner said in court Wednesday that White had a criminal matter that resulted in a diversionary program in 2015. They did not specify what he was charged with at the time.