http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-remains3jun28,0,589979.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
By Brian Lockhart
Staff Writer
June 28, 2005
NORWALK -- The chief state's attorney's office will not pursue criminal charges against a police officer who took a human skull fragment from the scene of a fatal Memorial Day weekend car crash, leaving the investigation and ultimate resolution in the hands of city police officials.
"I am comfortable that if the facts are there, the Norwalk Police Department has plenty of authority to take whatever appropriate action is necessary," Deputy Chief State's Attorney Paul Murray said yesterday, adding an attempted criminal prosecution would only "drag out" any suffering the incident has caused crash victim Alfred Caviola's family.
Norwalk Police Chief Harry Rilling said he is reviewing reports on the May 29 incident, in which the officer left the fragment from the Flax Hill Road accident in his department locker for two or three days. He said he should be prepared to decide the next step by week's end.
Rilling also said he placed the unidentified officer on administrative leave last week, pending the results of the probe. The officer had been placed on restricted duty earlier this month; the chief yesterday would not explain the change in job status. The fragment is currently at the state medical examiner's office.
Also, Rilling yesterday said Deputy Police Chief Mark Palmer is conducting a separate inquiry into whether additional human remains left at the scene were properly collected and secured by police and a public works crew.
"He was trying to determine how the incident was handled once everybody was gone and a Department of Public Works (crew) called and said they found something and a neighbor may have called and said they found something," Rilling said. "So he was determining whether that was handled appropriately."
Palmer could not be reached yesterday.
Caviola, 62, of Hopewell Junction, N.Y., suffered severe head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene after his 1999 Nissan Pathfinder rolled over on Flax Hill Road, near Primrose Court.
In an interview June 3, Rilling confirmed he was reviewing the actions of an officer, who, apparently after the state medical examiner had removed Caviola's body for an autopsy, found the skull fragment behind a tow truck, wrapped it a rubber glove, placed it in his duty bag and left the item in his locker after working a double shift.
Spokesmen for the medical examiner's office in interviews yesterday and earlier this month said the department works hard not to leave remains at an accident scene.
In the rare case when some are found, "we'll normally have the police collect it and bring it to our office (or) pick it up from the police," a spokeswoman said yesterday.
Rilling has said the officer reported he forgot about the fragment, but while home May 30, notified a sergeant and turned the piece of skull over to superiors after returning Tuesday or Wednesday.
Rilling at the time said the fragment had no evidentiary value and there was no reason to believe the incident was anything but an honest mistake.
Murray said the chief state's attorney's office did not believe the incident fit within any legal statutes governing inappropriate disposition of bodies or body parts.
"Assuming the facts as I've heard them have some resemblance to the truth, the chances of having a nice, clean criminal prosecution that everyone agrees fits the statutes is pretty remote," Murray said. "It's a bizarre situation. . . . Could we shoehorn it into something? Yeah. Would that serve justice? Probably not in this case."
The question of whether even more human debris was left behind was raised in a June 10 Advocate story, which reported public works supervisors' concerns that a crew called to clear Flax Hill Road of wreckage found itself retrieving unspecified remains.
At the time, Lisa Bardon, public works operations manager, said the crew told her they called the police and were instructed to collect the remains and transport them to Norwalk Hospital, presumably to be transferred to the state medical examiner.
A spokeswoman for Norwalk Hospital yesterday would not confirm whether that happened, saying the facility cannot discuss details of a particular case.
The chief medical examiner's spokeswoman also had no additional information; Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver did not return a call for comment.
"We don't have the final report from the deputy chief yet . . . I'm not sure at this point what public works was told and who told them," Rilling said yesterday.
Public Works Director Harold Alvord yesterday said he and Rilling would meet within the month and establish "a commonly understood protocol for who's in charge at the scene of a serious accident or crime and who our (crew) supervisor reports to."
"Public works clearly should not be in charge of a situation like that," Alvord said.
Attorney Marc Jacobs, who has been retained by the Caviola family, declined to comment.
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