Bridgeport city official charged with DUI
BRIDGEPORT — The city’s budget chief was arrested Friday and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after his car reportedly struck a tree on Park Avenue, according to the police and the mayor’s office.
Nestor Nkwo, a longtime municipal employee who lives in the city, is scheduled to appear in court April 12. The city released the incident report Monday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from Hearst Connecticut Media.
According to the report, at around 8 p.m. Friday, Officer Ryan Wilson was dispatched to Park Avenue and Merchant Street on a report that a car struck a tree on the median.
Wilson wrote that the driver, who identified himself as Nkwo, was uninjured, refused treatment and did not display “apparent signs of impairment” but had “an odor of alcohol” on his breath. Wilson subsequently performed a field sobriety test on Nkwo in the presence of a second officer. According to police, Nkwo failed the test and was taken to police headquarters where he was booked.
Nkwo later registered .1260 on a breath test. The legal limit in Connecticut is .08.
Connecticut statutes state that first time violators of driving under the influence face a fine of $500 to $1,000; up to six months in prison with the alternative possibility of probation/ community service; and a 45-day suspension of their driver’s license.
In a statement, Ganim spokesperson Tiadora Josef said Nkwo’s position will not be affected by his pending court case.
“Neither the arrest, potential conviction, possible revocation of driver’s license, etc. prevent the employee from performing the essential functions of the position (and it) does not require a driver’s license,” she said. She also said he is not a threat to the public.
“There is no record of this employee violating the city’s drug and alcohol policy,” Josef said, adding that Nkwo has been offered support through the employee assistance program.
Mayor Joe Ganim put Nkwo, a longtime budget office staffer, in charge of that department in 2015. As such he plays a key role in managing and monitoring Bridgeport’s finances and spending and in the spring municipal budget season.
The budget process begins this week with Ganim presenting his proposed 2024-25 fiscal plan to the City Council. A subcommittee of members will then spend the next few weeks reviewing and amending it with Nkwo, Finance Director Kenneth Flatto and various other department heads and mayoral aides.
Nkwo is considered so important to the management of Bridgeport’s finances that, upon his retirement last year, the council created a new parttime budget chief position to keep him around because there was no immediate heir apparent.
“We don’t have a choice,” Councilman Ernest Newton, a budget committee chairman, said at the time. “He knows the budget inside and out.”
His co-chairman, Councilman Scott Burns, had stated, “the thinking is, he’ll stay on part-time for a few months until a permanent replacement can be vetted and hired.”