Charges may be dropped against State Police sergeant

DANBURY — A judge on Friday said he would allow a Connecticut State Police sergeant accused of leaving the scene after rearending another vehicle in Brookfield to participate in a pretrial program that could lead to dismissal of the charges.

State Police Sgt. Catherine Koeppel was issued a misdemeanor summons for following too close and evading responsibility days after the July 24 crash.

“Misdemeanors by definition are crimes not of a serious nature, but there are some serious ramifications, not only for you, but also the person with whom you shared the road that day,” Judge Charles M. Stango told Koeppel during a brief appearance Friday in state Superior Court in Danbury.

Stango said he would find that she engaged “in conduct not of a serious nature” and she was not likely to offend in the future, and granted her application for the pretrial accelerated rehabilitation program.

The State’s Attorney’s Office did not object to the program being granted.

The program generally allows defendants accused of less serious crimes to meet conditions set by the court while the charges remain pending. If the defendant meets those conditions, the court will dismiss the charges.

Koeppel did not address the court during the hearing, and declined to comment after the proceeding.

Koeppel’s attorney, Gene Zingaro, said his client attended Danbury High School before graduating from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York with bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

“She immediately was hired in Connecticut as a civil servant, she served the state of Connecticut for greater than 14 years, and while doing so, was the recipient of multiple commendations,” Zingaro said.

“I’m sure she’s never going to offend again,” he said, adding the charges against Koeppel “are also not so serious” to prevent the judge from granting her application. He asked Stango for the shortest possible time to resolve the case, since it had been pending since last July. He said the case has had an “impact” on this client and that he knew it has also impacted the victim.

“I don’t take that lightly,” he said.

State police said Friday that Koeppel’s police powers remain suspended, and an internal affairs investigation into the incident remains ongoing.

Joseph Foti, a lawyer representing the woman whose car Koeppel hit, said Friday the family trusts the criminal justice process, and has no objection to Koeppel participating in the program.

Foti said the driver plans to file a lawsuit and has not reached a settlement with Koeppel.

Koeppel was off-duty on July 24 when she crashed her state police Dodge Charger into the back of a Kia Optima on Route 7 near the Route 202 intersection in Brookfield. State police are regularly allowed to drive their police vehicles while offduty.

Foti had said the crash totaled his client’s car. State police said the driver of the Kia was left with “no apparent injury” from the crash, but Foti claimed his client, a 20-year-old New Milford college student, needed physical therapy for neck and back injuries.

Another driver told investigators she came to a stop at the intersection and saw the headlights of Koeppel’s car “zooming” through a curve behind her and not slowing down, according to video obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media Group. The driver pulled over and to the right and told police what looked like a Dodge Charger slammed into the car behind her. The Charger was “right on my (expletive),” before it sped off, the woman told police.

Zingaro said he had reached out to Foti about restitution for the crash, but the two parties had not reached an agreement on the amount owed.

“My client’s fully insured,” he told the judge. “Right now, it’s a pending claim, and because there’s a claim, it’s not reduced to a lawsuit yet, but it will be.”