Prepared Remarks of Assistant Director in Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk on Indictment of East Haven Police Officers

The indictment outlines a four-year pattern of egregious behavior by men sworn to uphold the law as well as enforce it. The pledge to obey the law is implicit in a police officer’s oath.

The four East Haven Police officers charged today were a cancerous cadre who routinely deprived East Haven residents—particularly members of the Hispanic community—of their civil rights.

Officers David Cari, Dennis Spaulding, and Jason Zullo, and their supervising sergeant, John Miller, engaged in one or more of the following blatantly illegal and unethical acts of misconduct:

• They arrested people and searched premises on false pretenses, and filed false reports to support their illegal actions.
• They used excessive and unnecessary force, including Sgt. Miller striking a compliant and handcuffed arrestee.
• Miller reprimanded an officer who did the right thing by reporting this abuse to his superiors.
• They falsely arrested a religious leader and advocate for the Latino community who witnessed their illegal vehicle search, and unlawfully tried to seize video equipment to expunge evidence of their misconduct.
• They continued to try to intimidate the religious leader and others in a further effort to obstruct justice.
• They attempted to impede the Board of Police Commissioners’ investigation of the arrest of the religious leader.
• They attempted to intimidate and silence other East Haven officers by posting thinly veiled threats in the department station-house.

The officers abused their positions of authority to deprive people of their constitutional rights under color of law. In simple terms, they behaved like bullies with badges.

Making up charges out of whole cloth, to arrest a man of the cloth, is just one of the more appalling instances of abuse by these defendants.

Trying to fortify a “blue wall of silence” to keep other officers from reporting their misdeeds was another.

These officers have damaged the reputation of their department, and undermined the public’s faith in those sworn to protect them.

The residents of East Haven should not need protection from those sworn to protect and serve.

I would ask anyone with information about abuse or other misconduct to call the FBI at 212-384-1000.

I want to commend Assistant Attorney General Perez and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division for placing a high priority on protecting the rights of the vulnerable.

Thanks to U.S. Attorney Fein, Deputy U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Krishna Patel for their valued partnership over the course of this investigation.

And kudos to FBI Special Agent Jeremy Bell and Supervisory Special Agent Brian Nadeau of the New York FBI’s Civil Rights/Public Corruption Squad for their efforts in this important case, working to ensure that “liberty and justice for all” is not just a hollow promise.

- View U.S. Attorney’s press release