Something must have been in the air the first couple days of July.
Three high-profile public officials in the Valley were arrested for various crimes allegedly committed on July 1 and July 3.
How could we pick just one for our Top-10 list?
In order of arrest date, here’s a break-down:
Blue Light Special
Those emergency blue lights volunteer firefighters get in their cars can be tempting. Ask Brian Koskelowski, son of Seymour’s former-First Selectman Robert J. Koskelowski and the former leader of the town’s Republican Town Committee.
He was arrested July 1 for allegedly using his emergency blue lights to pull over a driver on Route 8. It was his second arrest for misuse of the lights.
State police charged Koskelowski, a volunteer firefighter in Seymour, with criminal impersonation, reckless driving and improper use of emergency lights.
Koskelowski said the motorist had just passed him in the breakdown lane and he was just trying to get the driver’s attention. He was also accused of misusing his emergency lights in 2008 – an incident for which he paid a fine.
The case seemed on its way to conclusion in September, when Koskelowski applied for accelerated rehabilitation, a special form of probation. But in November, his attorney withdrew the application and said the case would move toward a trial.
Koskelowski is due in Superior Court in Derby today.
Low Blood Sugar?
While most officials accused of a crime decline comment, or communicate in vague statements through their attorneys, Oxford Board of Education member Jerome “Jerry” Schwab confronted his July 3 arrest head on.
Schwab, 29, was arrested by the Ansonia police for allegedly driving drunk and running a red light at Bridge Street.
Schwab immediately responded to the claims by telling reporters he was experiencing a bout of low blood pressure at the time, and should have been given medical treatment instead of being arrested.
He even had the receipt from his breathalyzer tests that night to help his case.
But prosecutors wanted the full toxicology reports from his urine test that night, and the case has been working its way through court while the tests were process.
Schwab’s attorney, Dominick Thomas, said the urine tests show Schwab had prescription drugs in his system, not alcohol, the night of his arrest.
Schwab, a member of the Oxford Board of Education. the executive director of the Oxford Ambulance Association and the president of the Board of Directors for the Valley Emergency Medical Services, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
His next scheduled appearance in court is Jan. 13.
‘No Idea Why I Did It’
Perhaps the strangest case this year was the Ansonia Board of Aldermen member who allegedly hid in his own home wearing a mask, and attacked his fiancee when she came home from the gym one July morning.
After more than a month-long police investigation, Keith Maynard, 42, was charged with first-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree assault and first-degree reckless endangerment on Aug. 20.
Here’s the strange part: While police continued to search for the attacker during July, Maynard and his fiancee, Ida Marie, got married.
Only after the wedding did Ida Marie start to suspect her attacker might have been Maynard, the arrest warrant said.
Maynard confessed after being questioned by police twice and confronted by Ida Marie’s sister, the arrest warrant said.
When asked if there was any reason for the assault, all Maynard said to police was: “No idea why I did it.”
Maynard has since resigned from the Board of Aldermen and has been scolded by the judge for not fully complying with a restraining order that prohibits him from talking with Ida Marie.
“You can’t pass on messages through a third party,” Judge Burton Kaplan told Maynard at his September court date. “That’s just like contact.”
Maynard has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to appear in court again on Jan. 7.
