A state police spokesman said Friday the First Selectwoman’s decision to ask a police officer to drive a drunk man home Thursday night was unusual, but didn’t necessarily violate any local law enforcement regulations.
Lt. J. Paul Vance said it was up to the individual trooper to decide whether the ride was needed in the interest of public safety.
First Selectwoman Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers said Friday that she was in the Brookside Inn with friends Thursday night when she noticed an obviously intoxicated man in the establishment. The man was making attempts leave the place to go to his vehicle and drive away.
Drayton-Rogers said she asked a police officer to give the man a ride so that he would get home safely.
“I didn’t even know the man, I don’t know his name. He was falling down drunk and I did not want him on the road,” Drayton-Rogers said.
The incident had her political opponents upset Friday, as word spread through Oxford.
“Absolutely, it is an abuse of power,” said former First Selectman August Palmer III. “So what they are saying is if you are drunk, don’t call a cab, call a state trooper for a ride,” Palmer said. “That’s the spin they are putting on this?”
Palmer said someone should have simply called the man a taxi. Drayton-Rogers pointed out there is no taxi company in Oxford.
Resident State Trooper Sgt. Dan Semosky said he is looking into the circumstances that led up the officer’s involvement. He said the important issue is that an intoxicated man was kept off the road.
“I’m happy, if someone was intoxicated, they were not allowed to drive. I’m looking into the circumstances,” Semosky said.
Semosky said the Oxford officers have given rides to drunks in the past.
Vance said it is unusual for state troopers to perform that service, but in the situation, the officer would have to make a judgment whether it is warranted for public safety.
The Oxford Town Charter, in describing the role of First Selectman, states that the First Selectman assumes the role of police chief in the absence of an appointed police chief. The town does not have a police chief.
Oxford has town police officers and state police patrolling the town. Semosky is the supervisor.
Good for Mary Ann! As Sgt Semosky said, at least a drunk was kept off the road. There is nothing wrong with making the request and as a State official, that officer exercised his own judgement and made the choice to help. Palmer needs to know what it means to go down this path when all that happened was the state police helping a drunk.
I say it’s a good use of power.We all should be grateful to our First selectwoman for saving a least one life.Imagine this person coming out of a blackout to find out he hit a family of 5 head on and the 2yr old didn’t survive!
Absolutely the right thing to do! Good thinking on The First Selectwoman’s part. And things in the town WERE covered as Troop A in Southbury was on call for us.
Thank you on behalf of a mother and resident of this town. We dont need anymore accidents, especially from a drunk Driver.
That’s good news. Now we know that anyone who has too much to drink in Oxford can call the police/taxi for a free ride home. Thanks Mary Ann for making us aware of this service.
Here is a perfect example of how Mr. Palmer feels the need to politicize everything that happens in Oxford. Drayton-Rogers happens to see a man falling down drunk wanting to drive himself home. As most reasonable people in Oxford know there is unfortunately no functioning Taxi service. Palmer insists a cab should of been called. Drayton Rogers feeling that waiting for a cab, for who knows how long, could just lead to this drunk person getting more impatient to leave. Mary Ann does the prudent thing and asks a police officer to drive this hapless drunk home.
Oxford police officers and State Troopers are not taxi services but they sure are the next best thing when it comes to the safety of any motorist that was on the road that night and would be at the mercy of this drunken fool. Thank you Mary Ann. Mr. Palmer should start thinking a little more logically.
Palmer thinks “it is an abuse of power” because he’s not sitting in the First Selectman’s seat and didn’t make the decision (though I hear he’s going to run again, god help us!). If that were him at Brookside, he would have completely ignored the situation and done NOTHING! We certainly don’t need another fatality on Route 67 either. The Town was covered Mr. Palmer, end of story. Think of something else to cry about!
We should be thanking our First Selectman for making our roads a little safer that night, not criticizing her. It’s easy to see that some people are going to try to make something negative out of any positives the current administration accomplishes. There are way more important things going on in this world right now that need to be addressed rather than childish finger pointing just to make someone else look bad.
Very interesting choice of words for Mr. Palmer… “So what they are saying is if you are drunk, don’t call a cab, call a state trooper for a ride,” Palmer said. “That’s the spin they are putting on this?”
Who might “THEY” be?
Where’s the “SPIN”?
Looks like he’s really grasping at straws.
As I said, very interesting.
Thanks Mrs. Drayton-Rogers for putting Oxford’s safety first.
The Firstselectwoman made the correct decision to have Trooper bring the man home.
If I was at Brookside and observed this situation, I would have called 911 myself. If an Oxford trooper answered the call, he would have had the authority to make a safety decision about this. He could radio the Southbury barracks for guidance or other assistance. ANY CITIZEN could have done what Mary Ann did. So it’s an issue because the citizen just happened to be the First Selectman? God forbid if this person was the one who caused the four-car accident on Rt 67 the other night… then she would have been blamed for not doing something! This is so typical of Augie’s M.O. Everything is an abuse of power unless he’s the one doing it.
Palmer is being political to the point of incredulity.
I grew up in a small town in Connecticut (East Haddam) where the resident trooper would come to high school dances/events, and hand out a business card with his number on it.
The card said, “Need a ride? No questions asked.”
The number was staffed by community volunteers, and either the troopers or local teachers/politicians would pick up kids instead of them driving drunk.
I wish our town did it sooner: it might have prevented the 7 senseless deaths we saw in one year due to drunken driving.
Personally I believe our First Selectman made a wonderful decision in contacting our police on this particular issue, as does Sgt. Semosky. Oxford has more than one cop on each shift, including troopers from Troop A. I find it ridiculous that people are negatively degrading Mary Ann’s decision after speaking to Oxford’s cops and also belittling her choice of action. Get over the whole, “call a cab” comment (as they are pointlessly mentioned on patch.com’s article) and be thankful for the outcome. Palmer’s asinine two cents is uncalled for. What is his point? Absolutely nothing. I would love for this town to start putting things in order and these political groups to start stepping up and stop the bickering. Maybe instead of the negatives, start the modeling process with positives.
http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Give-this-pol-a-break-for-doing-the-right-thing-1025556.php
I hope that people will read and move on.
AMEN!!!
It’s pretty pathetic when so much time and energy is focused on such a non-issue, but one ‘ginned-up’ (pun intended) for political purposes. Also so typical of Palmer. Sad. We have so many more important things to deal with. Can you imagine the progress this Town would make if we all focused our substantial energies on those?
ok, now that they made a non issue out of this, can this town PLEASE move on?
Brookside should have stopped serving this person alcohol before he became drunk. Brookside should have been asked to make arrangements to deal with this. Why wasn’t a family member or friend called to take him back to Roxbury. “Drayton-Rogers pointed out there is no taxi company in Oxford.” Her excuse is lame. Everyday I see taxi cabs going up and down Route 67. There were valley taxi cabs Rogers could have called. Poor judgement from Rogers.
Of course you will here political support on this site from the Roger’s fan club AKA “The Oxford Democratic Town Committee Members.”
Of course you won’t let go of this non-issue, OxfordFamilyMan because of your political support of the dwindling Palmer fan club.
OxfordFamilyMan – Apparently you do not like TRUE and PROVEN information about this case. Don’t get upset that Palmer was WRONG in what he did. This is evident from our awesome Trooper Semosky and Lt. Vance. There is obviously no ODTC favor here. Get your facts straight and support facts that are FAIR! You would suddenly agree with Drayton-Rogers (THIS is her last name sir…) if you were victim of a drunk driver correct? Enough said. As a Republican here in town, you are simply one who loves the politics, not fair manners.
“OxfordFamilyMan,” this man could have killed someone in your family or a friend of mine, what don’t you get? While I agree with you that Brookside should have stopped serving this man, they didn’t. Someone had to step up to the plate.
Aren’t we suppose to “love thy neighbor?” Apparently not a slogan certain people in Oxford believe in.
“Lt. J. Paul Vance said it was up to the individual trooper to decide whether the ride was needed in the interest of public safety.” Obviously public safety was a factor and this man was given a ride home, end of story.
Thank god the First Selectman was there! Hasn’t Oxford had enough senseless tragedies with motor vehicles?
If you truly are a “family” man, why would you even think she did something wrong?