A local business owner was arrested by Ansonia Police Thursday after he allegedly confronted a police sergeant in front of his shop on Wakelee Avenue.
Frank Heusser, Jr., owner of Frank’s LLC, was charged with second-degree breach of peace and interfering with police. He was released on a $10,000 bond.
Police said Heusser blocked traffic with his tow truck, then became confrontational when the sergeant started to take down the truck’s license plate information.
Heusser says he was simply preparing his tow truck to move a car, and called the arrest the latest retaliatory attack on him by the police department.
The Arrest
Police said Heusser yelled at the sergeant and instigated a verbal altercation.
Heusser denies it.
“There wasn’t an argument,” Heusser said. “He came over here. I told him to get off the property, this is harassment. He came up and pushed me twice, and said you’re under arrest.”
The sergeant confiscated a handgun from Heusser, who has a license to be carrying the weapon, according to Ansonia Police Chief Kevin Hale.
Heusser will be arraigned Jan. 25 at Superior Court in Derby.
He’s already on probation for a June 2009 arrest for interfering with an officer — an arrest Heusser said was over another parking incident at his shop.
And he has a minor motor vehicle infraction pending before the court for “unsafe backing.”
A Long History
Heusser has long sparred with the police department.
It started in 2007.
Heusser and his father were arrested for breach of peace — a charge later dropped to an infraction, according to New Haven Register story.
After the arrest, Heusser’s tow company was removed from the police department’s rotating list of tow truck operators to call to haul away vehicles after car crashes.
In response to being removed from the list, the Heusser family sued Hale. That suit is pending in U.S. District Court in New Haven.
Heusser said in the past year, he’s been given several parking tickets at his Wakelee Avenue shop. Neighboring businesses have complained he parks illegally along Wakelee Avenue.
Heusser said he launched a counter attack on the police department last week, at a meeting of the Ansonia Police Commission.
There, Heusser accused an Ansonia police officer of orchestrating the theft of truck parts from a car dealership.
Heusser said the alleged crime happened at least 10 years ago — and that he participated. After Heusser made his claims, the commissioners met in executive session, then said they would look into the matter.
“They (police) keep doing their stuff and coming after me now,” Heusser said. “There’s not much more I have to worry about.”
