Firefighter charged with taking drugs from overdose scene

BRIDGEPORT — A city firefighter has been suspended with pay following his arrest in connection with an incident in which police said he took a bag of narcotics from the scene of a suspected drug overdose.

Harold Clarke Jr. 28, was charged on March 22 with interfering with an officer and tampering with evidence, according to court documents.

He was released after posting $25,000 bond pending arraignment in Superior Court on April 3. Fire officials said Clarke had been placed on administrative leave status.

Clarke is the son of former city assistant fire chief Harold Clarke Sr., who is awaiting trial in connection with a 2022 sex assault case. The senior Clarke retired after being notified he was under investigation. His next court date is scheduled for June 6.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, on March 2, Harold Clarke Jr. was dispatched with other firefighters to a home on Polk Street for a complaint of an unresponsive person. While firefighters were on route to the scene they received a call that “narcotics were found on scene,” the affidavit states.

When a police officer arrived on the scene the affidavit states that she was told by a fire scene supervisor that a quantity of suspected drugs were found and that a male resident of the home had been transported to the hospital suffering from a suspected drug overdose. The victim subsequently died at the hospital, the affidavit states.

The affidavit continues that a female officer went into the home where she saw Clarke talking to a resident of the home. The officer reported that Clarke was very hostile to her and told her the victim was his relative, the affidavit states.

The affidavit states that the officer followed Clarke as he went to a bedroom located in the home’s basement. The officer then saw Clarke remove a plastic bag from a bed in the room and then walk out of the basement with the bag, the affidavit states.

The affidavit states that the police officer was joined in the basement by the fire scene supervisor who told her a bag of suspected drug had been found on the bed but then noticed, as he went to show it to the officer, that the bag was missing.

The officer did find four small plastic bags nearby that were later found to contain cocaine and fentanyl, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit states that Clarke, despite being recorded on the officer’s body cam taking the bag from the scene, later denied finding any narcotics at the scene. He later refused to come to the Detective Bureau to be interviewed on the incident, the affidavit states.