Does the video show him stealing the hose or just looking at it?
That was the debate Monday in Superior Court in Derby, where police officer Mustafa “Moose” Salahuddin is on trial on sixth-degree larceny charges. Salahuddin is accused of stealing a newly purchased garden hose. He’s been on administrative leave since his 2008 arrest.
Salahuddin says he didn’t do it. He and his lawyer, Rob Serafinowicz, believe he was targeted by local law enforcement leaders because he has a history of conflicting with police department brass.
Police department leaders, they said, have disliked Salahuddin since he filed a complaint more than a decade ago to wear a beard while in uniform. Salahuddin is Muslim.
It’s a charge police have repeatedly denied.
Salahuddin also has a discrimination complaint pending against the department with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.
If convicted of the misdemeanor larceny charge, Salahuddin faces a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Target?
During the first day of the trial Monday, Judge Eddie Rodriguez, Jr. reminded Serafinowicz and prosecutor Paul Gaetano that the case before them was about whether Salahuddin stole the hose, valued at $24.99.
The trial was not about alleged in-fighting at the Ansonia Police Department.
“I will not allow these undercurrents to come into this trial,” Judge Rodriguez said early Monday, after ordering Salahuddin to remove his Ansonia Police Department uniform jacket. The judge said wearing the jacket in court would prejudice jurors.
“This is a simple question of larceny in the sixth-degree. Move along,” Rodriguez told the defense attorney later in the day, as Serafinowicz asked Ansonia police Lt. Andrew Cota about any harassment issues with the police department.
Serafinowicz did elicit testimony from Patricia Rowley, a radio dispatcher who works the midnight shift at the police department, about what happens to people “targeted” by police department management.
“It depends on who you are in the department,” Rowley said. “If they put a target on your back, they’ll do anything they can to get you out.”
Rowley said she had no personal knowledge of Salahuddin being a target — but had heard talk about it.
“A garden hose? Come on,” she said about the investigation into Salahuddin’s alleged theft.
The Hijacked Hose
Monday’s testimony established when the hose went missing and how Cota began an immediate investigation into its disappearance.
Ansonia public works foreman Judd Blaze was the first to testify Monday. Blaze said he purchased two new garden hoses for the police department maintenance person on May 14, 2008.
The next witness was Joe DiVincenzo, the maintenance worker at the police department. He said he put the newly-purchased hose behind a door near a stairwell in the police department.
When he returned to work the next morning, May 15, one hose was gone. He searched, then informed Blaze, who told him to tell police department supervisors.
DiVincenzo said at some point Salahuddin told him he had used the hose briefly during his overnight shift to prop open an exit door.
After learning about the hose the morning of Thursday, May 15, Cota said he instructed Sgt. Louis Owens to write a message on a dry erase board within the department.
The message informed police officers that a hose was missing and that Cota wanted it back by Monday — or he’d launch an investigation.
The Video
Cota, upon learning the hose was missing, reviewed video surveillance footage from a camera near the spot where the maintenance man had left the hose.
The video, according to Cota’s testimony, showed Salahuddin checking out the hose at about 5 a.m., then walking down a hallway into a room.
Salahuddin then comes back, looks around, bends down, draped a jacket over the coiled, 75-foot hose — then leaves the department.
After watching the video, Cota talked to Lt. Wayne Williams. They decided to search the building for the hose one more time.
Cota then called police Chief Kevin Hale, who was not working that day.
Cota said Hale told him he would get back to him, which he did.
“The chief’s decision was that the state police would investigate,” Cota said.
On May 20, the hose was discovered inside a box of toilet paper rolls in the police department’s basement — a spot already searched May 15, according to testimony from DeVincenzo.
Serafinowicz v Cota
Serafinowicz had the surveillance video replayed for the jury in “real time.” The initial showings had been in slow motion.
The hose cannot be seen in the video — because it is obscured by a door. The video itself is dark with heavy shadows.
Serafinowicz indicated that Cota may have been making an assumption when he stated that Salahuddin stopped to look at the hose — given the fact there were several items behind the door, not just the garden hose.
Serafinowicz, firing questions to Cota at a quick pace, also questioned Cota’s assertion that Salahuddin draped his jacket over the hose and took it before leaving the building.
He noted that Salahuddin’s jacket was lying limp in his hand in the video.
“Do you see him holding any item in that video, other than his jacket?”
“No,” Cota said.
Serafinowicz also asked whether anything else was happening in Ansonia while upper-level officers searched for a hose.
“There could have been,” Cota said.
Finally, Cota said he ordered the message on the dry erase board erased immediately after he saw the surveillance video.
History
Serafinowicz then asked Cota about a 2002 memo he wrote to Salahuddin about the police department’s harassment and discrimination policy.
The content of the memo was not revealed, but Serafinowicz said it went to whether Salahuddin trusted Cota.
“Is harassment an issue in the department?” the defense lawyer asked.
“No, I would not agree it was an issue,” Cota said.
Serafinowicz asked about the meeting between Cota and Williams after Cota watched the video.
“Did Williams say we finally got him (Salahuddin)?” Serafinowicz asked.
“No,” Cota said.
Serafinowicz also produced a document written sometime in the 1990s. It was apparently a letter in which Cota advised against hiring Salahuddin as a full-time police officer.
Cota said Salahuddin had served as a part-time police officer and was not reliable. He often could not work when he was needed, Cota said.
Serafinowicz said Salahuddin was dealing with the death of his son at the time of Cota’s letter.
During Serafinowicz’ cross-examination of Cota, Gaetano, the prosecutor, lodged a number of objections with the judge, saying the defense attorney’s questions were speculative.
Coffee Spill?
The final person to testify Monday was David Blackwell, another emergency dispatcher with the police department.
He testified that awhile after the hose went missing, Salahuddin gave him a ride home in a patrol car.
The topic of the hose came up, Blackwell said.
Blackwell said Salahuddin told him he had used the hose the night of its disappearance. Salahuddin had spilled coffee on the top of his patrol car. He took the cruiser and the hose to Roma pizzeria on Wakelee Avenue, Blackwell said, because the building has a hot and cold hose hook-up.
Serafinowicz pointed out that the hose entered as evidence — which was in plain view of the jury all day — was not used.
Day two testimony starts at 10 a.m. The prosecution expects to call two or three more witnesses. Among those who may testify Tuesday — Chief Kevin Hale.
The following was posted at 1:50 p.m. Monday.
A jury this afternoon saw footage from a surveillance camera inside the police department that allegedly shows an officer stealing a garden hose.
The video was prefaced with testimony from Lt. Andrew Cota and entered into evidence by prosecutor Paul Gaetano in Superior Court in Derby.
Officer Mustafa Salahuddin stands accused of stealing the hose, which went missing May 15, 2008.
Salahuddin’s trial on a sixth-degree larceny charge began today. Salahuddin and his lawyer, Rob Serafinowicz, have accused the police department of targeting Salahuddin because he is Muslim.
Salahuddin was not identified as the person in the video, which shows a shadowy figure approach an area behind a closed door where the newly-purchased hose was allegedly stored. The hose itself was not visible in the security video.
Cota testified until about 1 p.m., at which time the case broke for lunch. Gaetano’s questioning just before lunch centered around the use of a keypad system officers use to enter the building. The department has records of every person who uses the keypad to get in.
Testimony
Cota was the third witness called by the prosecution so far today.
Ansonia public works foreman Judd Blaze testified first. Blaze said he purchased two new garden hoses for the police department maintenance person on May 14, 2008.
The next witness was Joe DiVincenzo, the maintenance worker at the police department. He said he put the newly-purchased hose behind a door near a stairwell in the police department.
When he returned to work the next morning, one hose was gone. He searched, then informed Blaze, who told him to tell police department brass.
After learning about the hose the morning of May 15, Cota said he instructed Sgt. Louis Owens to write a message on a dry erase board within the department. The message informed police officers that a hose was missing and that Cota wanted it back by Monday — or he’d launch an investigation.
The hose was discovered inside a box of toilet paper rolls May 20 — a spot already searched May 15, according to testimony from DeVincenzo.
Serafinowicz tripped up a portion of DeVincenzo’s testimony. The maintenance man had testified that he worked May 19. Serafinowicz produced a document stating DeVincenzo used May 19 as a vacation day.
Conflict
Judge Eddie Rodriguez has already warned Serafinowicz and Gaetano to stick to the charge at hand — sixth-degree larceny, a misdemeanor — and to steer away from discussions of internal issues within the Ansonia Police Department.
“I will not allow these undercurrents to come into this trial,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez made his statement out of the jury’s presence, after the state objected to the fact Salahuddin wore his Ansonia Police Department uniform into court.
Gaetano read a memo from Ansonia Police Department Chief Kevin Hale. The chief sent it to Salahuddin after he was charged with larceny.
In the memo, the chief ordered Salahuddin not to present himself as an Ansonia Police Officer. Gaetano then objected to Salahuddin’s decision to wear the uniform.
Rodriguez sustained the objection, saying that Salahuddin’s uniform could influence the jury.
Serafinowicz initially countered Gaetano’s objection by inferring the judge didn’t have jurisdiction over Salahuddin’s uniform.
“Anything that happens in this court, I have jurisdiction over, including what you wear,” the judge told Serafinowicz.
Salahuddin left the court and changed into a long black jacket.
Early Motions
The prosecutors lost their bid to add a second misdemeanor charge against Salahuddin.
Serafinowicz objected, saying jury selection for the case ended March 10. The alleged crime happened May 2008, which gave prosecutors plenty of time to add another charge.
The judge agreed.
The judge also said he would not allow the prosecution to turn in police department card key information from May 16 to May 20.
It was a document the prosecution had apparently waited until the last minute to show to the defense.
Salahuddin faces a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $500 fine if found guilty.
Serafinowicz lost his bid to get authorities to turn over records for every arrest Salahuddin made while on the job as a police officer. The defense lawyer wanted to use the information to show that prosecutors have it in for his client.
