Youth officer loses struggle after being struck by SUV

10/22/2006

By William Kaempffer , Register Staff

NEW HAVEN - Hope ran out Saturday night at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Officer Dan Picagli, a 17-year veteran and father of four who was critically injured last week when he was struck by a car at a construction site, died shortly after 7 p.m.

He was 38.

"Officer Picagli was more than a cop. He was someone who brought people together, who created a sense of community," said Mayor John DeStefano Jr. "He was a life enhancer to all with whom he came in contact. More than any memorial, his basic decency will keep his memory vibrant in our City. On behalf of all of the people of New Haven, I extend my sympathy to his wife, Dee, his children and his family for the loss of a faithful and decent son of our City."

Said Police Chief Francisco Ortiz: "We will never forget Officer Dan Picagli. We will memorialize his contributions to the community through the police department in the years to come. We ask that the community continue to pray for his family in this difficult time."

When the announcement was made, police officers across the city drove to the hospital in a grim procession around Yale-New Haven with their emergency lights flashing.

It was a tragic day across the state for police.

In Hartford, a 10-year veteran of the Hartford Police Department was killed early Saturday in an off-duty crash when his car struck a tractor-trailer, police said.

Officer Matthew D. Arace died in the 2 a.m. accident on Interstate 91 in downtown Hartford, police said. He was 35.

In New Haven, Picagli's family and friends held out all week for a miracle that never came. The youth officer suffered devastating head injuries when a sport utility vehicle hit him as he worked an extra duty job for AT&T directing traffic at a road construction job on Chapel Street in New Haven's Wooster Square.

Police previously said the road was narrowed to one lane and Picagli and a second officer were alternating traffic when he was struck.

The driver of the SUV was John M. Walker Jr., a senior judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, who lives in Connecticut and maintains court chambers in New Haven. Police said he was leaving work when the accident happened.

Walker, a cousin of former President George H.W. Bush and 1962 Yale graduate, was appointed to the federal bench by President Reagan in 1985.

For much of his career, Picagli served as a youth officer in the city. He served as a school resource officer at Fair Haven Middle School, the same school he attended when he was growing up.

Most recently, he worked in the Family Services Division, organizing youth activities across the city. In the Hill, he helped run the Camp Defy, a federally funded program through Weed & Seed that pairs at-risk kids from the Hill with local police. Officers and the youths spend a week together camping at Camp Rell and afterward the officers keep in touch as mentors. He also ran the Police Athletic League, a youth program that provides athletic caps for city kids, and the Board of Young Adult Police Commissioners, a group of city youths who serve as advisors in the department.

It was not uncommon, according Sgt. Lisa Dadio, one of his supervisors, for Picagli to reach into his own pocket to pay for a child to attend some camp or pick up lunch for a youth who forgot his.

On Friday, Sgt. Rick Rodriguez, who worked closely with Picagli, said his family took a great deal of comfort from the kind words from strangers whose lives Picagli touched.

At the Hill South police substation Friday, youths from Camp Defy had drawn get well cards and members of the young adult police commission created a Superman cape that scores of students and colleagues signed for their injured friend.

Police officer Quincy Freeman came in on his off time to meet with the kids whom he helped mentor. Picagli had a way of connecting with them, a knack for talking with youths instead of arresting them.

"Dan's my man. I had to be here," said Freeman said Friday. "If this police department had more Dan Picaglis, this city would be a safer place."