State trooper gets rank restored

Demoted for alleged drunk driving

A decorated state police lieutenant who filed a lawsuit after being demoted for an alleged 2013 drunk driving incident will have his rank and seniority restored under the terms of a settlement agreement, his attorney said.

Patrick Torneo, a 16-year veteran of the state police, filed state and federal lawsuits against command staff and Doris Schriro, the former commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, after he was demoted to sergeant in 2014.

Torneo was accused in two anonymous emails sent to state police commanders months after his promotion to lieutenant that he led Middletown police on a chase hours after rescuing a state police detective wounded in a shootout with robbery suspects, according to arbitration documents. The documents said Torneo was drunk and wearing his full police uniform when he engaged officers in the pursuit with his cruiser.

The arbitration documents and federal and state court filings in the case show a rare view of the inner workings of the state’s largest law enforcement agency, which declined to investigate the allegations until a union leader directed them to Schriro a year after the incident.

Torneo admitted during an internal affairs investigation that he had two beers and a shot of alcohol at the home of the detective he saved, documents said. His next recollection was being woken up by a Middletown sergeant, said arbitrator Joel Weisblatt, of the Office of Policy and Management’s Labor Relations unit. In his November

2015 decision siding with the demoted lieutenant, Weisblatt said Torneo “was behind the wheel of his parked cruiser at the time.”

The allegations were not substantiated in the internal affairs report, which led to Torneo’s demotion, Weisblatt determined after his review of the case. He also noted that no Middletown officers were interviewed during the internal investigation or during the arbitration proceedings.

“The record at hand includes absolutely no evidence of (Torneo) operating his cruiser during the Middletown encounter,” Weisblatt said.

As a result of the internal investigation, Torneo was disciplined for driving a department vehicle while intoxicated and conduct that would reflect negatively on the department, Weisblatt said. Weisblatt overturned a five-day suspension Torneo received for the incident, but he could not require state police to reinstate his rank.

Amid the allegations of drunk driving, Andrew Matthews, president of the state police union, and attorneys representing the state in the lawsuit, contended that Torneo was negligent in his duties as a lieutenant while commanding Troop F in Westbrook, which is in part why he was transferred to headquarters and later demoted.

According to the original lawsuit filed in state court in October 2017, Torneo’s attorney, Lewis Chimes, claimed Matthews was siding with female troopers who complained of discrimination and harassment under Torneo’s command at Troop F. Toreno was not accused of participating in the discrimination or harassment that allegedly occurred under his command, the documents said.

That state lawsuit was dropped in November 2017 when a federal complaint was filed, claiming Torneo’s 14th Amendment rights to due process were violated by the demotion.

Trooper First Class Kelly Grant, a spokeswoman for the state police, declined to comment on the Torneo case since she said it’s still open. Matthews did not return a request for comment last week.

Tornero claimed in the lawsuit that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when he was found on the side of the road the morning after he pulled a wounded coworker to safety during a shootout with robbery suspects in April 2013.

It is unclear if he was on duty when he was found.

Medal of Bravery

The previous day, Torneo, who was a sergeant at the time, responded to reports of a chase on Route

153 in Old Saybrook involving a vehicle occupied by two robbery suspects. When Torneo encountered the chase, he found the suspect’s car and a vehicle driven by state police Detective Scott Wisner had plunged down an embankment with the occupants of both cars exchanging gunfire, the lawsuit said.

Wisner had been shot and was trapped in his vehicle, the lawsuit said. Torneo climbed down into the steep embankment and pulled the detective to safety.

Torneo admitted during the internal affairs investigation that he had consumed alcohol at Wisner’s home with other officers after the detective was treated and released from the hospital, according to the arbitrator.

Two troopers who responded to Middletown the next morning noted that Torneo “appeared to be intoxicated” but was steady on his feet. Middletown police treated the incident as a “medical” issue and did not perform a sobriety test or file charges, the arbitrator said.

Torneo’s superiors were notified about the incident and he was treated for PTSD afterward, Chimes said in the lawsuit.

No disciplinary action was initially taken. About six months later, Torneo was promoted to lieutenant in September 2013. He was awarded the Medal of Bravery for rescuing the detective in December 2013.

It wasn’t until the second email surfaced in April

2014 when state police commanders at Schriro’s direction insisted on an internal affairs investigation, the lawsuit claimed. As Torneo approached the one-year anniversary of becoming lieutenant in August 2014, he was told his probationary period was being extended six months due to the internal affairs investigation, court documents said.

Torneo was suspended five days and demoted back to sergeant in October 2014 before the six months were up. The arbitration overturned the suspension but couldn't reverse the demotion due to lack of jurisdiction. The lawsuit hinges on whether the extended probation was improper, allowing command staff to demote him during a test period when he would have no administrative recourse through the collective bargaining process. Ranking officers who pass the probationary period can only be demoted for just cause, according to the union contract.

Rank restored

The lawsuit claimed his 14th Amendment right to due process was violated by the extended probationary period.

A federal judge in Hartford was notified last month that the state has reached an agreement with Torneo. Details of the agreement will not be released until it is finalized, said Elizabeth Benton, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office.

Chimes said part of the agreement will include Torneo returning to the rank of lieutenant.

His seniority as a lieutenant will date back to when he was originally promoted, Chimes said. The attorney declined to comment on any other aspect of the agreement until it has been finalized. The state Attorney General’s Office also declined comment until the agreement is complete.

“The re-opening of an internal affairs investigation over one year after the shooting and incident against a state trooper who had shown extraordinary courage in the line of fire, and who had documented PTSD from the incident, was truly outrageous,” Chimes said in the lawsuit.