Retired Seymour Police Chief Paul Satkowski.
SEYMOUR – Three weeks to the day before Seymour Police Chief Paul Satkowski was set to retire, a motorist struck and killed a Shelton couple, then drove away. It was a tragedy that rocked the community – and Satkowski – to their very core.
But, thanks to solid police work by Seymour’s men and women in blue, along with multiple law enforcement agencies across the state, an arrest was made just hours before the driver was set to board a plane for Mexico.
It all happened as Satkowski closed the book on a 32-year career in law enforcement. He officially retired Dec. 31.
Satkowski, 55, was saddened for the family of James and Barbara Tamborra, killed as a result of the hit and run. He called it the most tragic event to occur during his three decades protecting and serving the community.
“As you can imagine, it was a mix of emotions, from disbelief the incident happened, disgust the person responsible would take off, sadness for the family for what they were going through, concern for the victim’s family and our officer who was nearly struck,” Satkowski said. “This incident was constantly on my mind. No one wants an incident of this magnitude lingering, not knowing who was responsible.”
Despite the fact the double fatal hit and run made national news, police didn’t have much to go on immediately after the crime. A broken headlight recovered from the scene and an anonymous tip eventually led police to charge Jair Irigoyen-Flores, 24, of West Haven, on Dec. 23.
Click here to read about how Seymour police built a case – and then had just hours to detain their suspect.
“We promised the Tamborra family since the time the incident happened we would do everything in our power to find the person responsible, bring them to justice and hopefully have some closure for the family,” Satkowski said. “I believe everyone involved with investigating this senseless tragedy shared the same vision, and I believe this was a big motivator. We received the break in the case we were all hoping for. The investigators knew they were in for a long night and they did everything possible to work on the case in an expeditious manner because of the potential circumstances of the suspect fleeing the country.”
Retiring without solving the case would’ve been difficult, Satkowski said.
“I realize there is only so much I can control, and it would have always been in the back of my mind if we were not able to bring justice and closure for the family,” Satkowski said. “Investigators literally had about a 12 to14 hour time frame to secure an arrest warrant before the suspect left the country. I don’t ever recall this in any other case throughout my career when our backs were literally against the wall. We knew if the suspect left the country he would never return, and although we would know who was responsible, there would never really be justice or closure for the Tamborra family.”
Cases like the hit and run tragedy, as well as the murder/suicide in July 2020 where a mother from Monroe purposefully drove her car into the Housatonic River, and the George Floyd incident that had large ramifications for law enforcement across the country, will forever resonate with Satkowski. All of those events occurred while Satkowski was navigating how to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite all those challenges, Satkowski is proud of the choice he made back in the 1980s to become a cop. He landed his first gig as a supernumerary officer in neighboring Derby in 1989, and joined Seymour’s force in 1995 as a patrol officer. He climbed his way up the ranks in Seymour, serving as the first bike patrol officer, patrol sergeant, administrative lieutenant, assistant commanding officer, commanding officer, deputy chief and finally promoted to chief in 2018.
Blue runs in Satkowski’s blood, as his brother Matt is a retired state police officer, and late brother Albert was also a supernumerary officer in Derby. Satkowski heard the calling at a young age.
“As a child growing up, whenever there were sirens or something happening in the neighborhood we would hop on our bikes and go racing to see what was going on,” Satkowski said. “The excitement was intriguing. This carried over into adult life after high school and it’s just something I grew more interested in pursuing.”
Probably the biggest change Satkowski has witnessed in police work over the course of three decades is technology.
“When I first started, all you had was your car radio and a portable radio to do your job,” he said. “Now you have car computers, printers in vehicles, cell phones, license plate readers, body cams and dash cams.”
Satkowski, the father of two, said he’s going to miss a lot of things about the job, especially serving the town he grew up in, working with the public, and the camaraderie with fellow officers.
What he won’t miss is the time spent away from his wife, Sandie, and kids, Allyson and Andrew, who followed in his father’s footsteps, working as a police officer for the Town of Orange.
Satkowski, like his predecessor, Chief Michael Metzler, showed up in person at all major calls for service, whether it was house fires, reports of missing persons, or car wrecks.
He also won’t miss getting woken up in the middle of the night,or dealing with weather issues.
“It was actually nice Wednesday (Jan. 5) morning waking up and not having to worry about the impact from the ice storm,” Satkowski said.
As for this future, Satkowski plans to tackle some projects around the house, relax a bit and then will “reevaluate” at some point. And at a time when recruitment is very low, Satkowski holds hope for the future of the profession.
“I think it takes a certain individual to want to do the job,” he said. “I know it’s a tough time to be an officer, but I believe it’s still a noble profession wherein you get an opportunity to do something different each day that could impact someone’s life hopefully for the better.”
Police Commissioner Robert Koskelowski lauded Satkowski, who earned numerous awards and accolades over the years, for a job well done.
“You’ve dedicated your whole adult life to the Town of Seymour and its residents, and we thank you for that, and wish you nothing but the best for your future,” Koskelowski said.
