Officer Misconduct????????????

Written in the Hartford Courant


Officer Describes Assault By Colleague's Angry Wife

Records: Officer Says Lieutenant Guided Her To Plaza Where His Angry Wife Assaulted Her
April 18, 2007

By ALAINE GRIFFIN, And JOSH KOVNER Courant Staff Writers MIDDLETOWN -- Lt. John Lozefski called Officer Kristen Drapala three times to guide her to a March meeting with him at Cromwell Square plaza, court records state, but he never mentioned his wife was with him.

When Drapala arrived at the plaza, Lozefski was sitting in the passenger seat of a minivan. As Drapala, who was off-duty, pulled to a stop, Lozefski's wife "ran from the driver's side of the van," screamed that Drapala was having a relationship with her husband, and punched Drapala in the face and abdomen, according to an arrest warrant charging Marisol Lozefski with third-degree assault and criminal mischief.

Lozefski, 31, of Plainville, applied for a special form of probation at her arraignment Tuesday in Superior Court. Under accelerated rehabilitation, a defendant with no prior criminal record who completes the probationary period successfully has his or her record erased.

John Lozefski, 38, a veteran Middletown lieutenant who heads the department's street crime unit, accompanied his wife to court. Drapala, 29, also attended the arraignment but sat in a different section of the gallery.

The police department's internal affairs unit is also investigating John Lozefski's role in the incident. The department wants to know whether he was on duty the night of March 27 but spent a portion of his work shift in another town, on non-police business.

John Lozefski's sick-time slip for March 27, signed by the desk sergeant, is stamped to indicate he left work sick at 8:14 p.m.,two hours after the alleged assault in Cromwell. In hand-written additions, the time he left is changed to 5:30 p.m., and two notes indicate he left a voice mail saying he booked off sick at 5:30 p.m. and forgot to tell the desk sergeant.

Drapala, in her sworn statement to Cromwell Police Sgt. Michael Wren, said she was at home when she got the first call from Lozefski between 6 and 6:15 p.m. on March 27. Key-card access records place John Lozefski inside Middletown police headquarters at 5:56 p.m., nearly a half-hour after he said he booked off sick.

Drapala said Lozefski told her "that he needed to speak with her and wanted to meet," Wren wrote in the warrant. Drapala said she thought Lozefski was at city police headquarters and began driving there, the warrant states.

According to the warrant, Drapala said he called her again and told her he was already in Cromwell. She said she agreed to meet him in the parking lot of Rookies Sports Bar & Grille. When she got there, she didn't see him. In the third call, he directed her behind Citizens Bank, where Lozefski and his wife were waiting in the minivan, the warrant states.

Drapala told investigators Marisol Lozefski emerged from the driver's side of the van and ran toward her car, yelling, "You're screwing my husband." Drapala said after she was punched, she tried to get back into her car.

Drapala said Marisol Lozefski then "began kicking her and the vehicle." An unidentified woman stopped and asked Drapala if she was OK and Marisol Lozefski yelled at her, so she left, according to the warrant.

Police said Marisol Lozefski kicked Drapala's car again and struck Drapala on the jaw. John Lozefski then "grabbed" his wife. Drapala told police she saw Marisol Lozefski hit John Lozefski, the warrant says.

Drapala's husband, Matthew Pelletier, 29, told investigators a woman called his home after the alleged assault and said Drapala and John Lozefski were having an affair. The caller said "that she had a recording of" the two officers and she planned to file a complaint with Middletown police. The woman told him that she had punched Drapala in the "face and other places," the warrant says.

Pelletier told police "he asked the suspect to sit down and talk to him before she started ruining careers." While he was on the phone, Pelletier said, his wife came home "holding her jaw," the warrant says.

John Lozefski told Cromwell investigators his wife believed he had kissed Drapala, the warrant says. He said he tried to arrange a meeting so "the three of them could talk it out." He said that, at the Cromwell plaza, Drapala and his wife "got into it" and his wife hit Drapala and kicked her vehicle. He denied that his wife hit him, the warrant says.

According to the warrant, Marisol Lozefski told Cromwell police she "was sorry for what she did and wanted to pay for any damages." Court records show the damage to Drapala's car was estimated at $2,175.

Marisol Lozefski said on March 27, "she learned that her husband had kissed" Drapala and that she "was upset and wanted to confront them. She stated that when she confronted both of them, they admitted it." She admitted "that she had hit" Drapala and kicked her vehicle. She denied hitting her husband, the warrant says.

Marisol Lozefski's case was continued to May 17. She is free on a promise to appear in court. Kevin Dunn, the domestic violence prosecutor for the chief state's attorney's office, requested special conditions be placed on Marisol Lozefski, including that she not have any contact with Drapala or Pelletier. Judge Frank A. Iannotti agreed to the special condition as well as one that prohibits Marisol Lozefski from going to the Middletown Police Department.

Marisol Lozefski's attorney, Jennifer Zito, asked that the prohibition be lifted in the event of a family emergency.

"I'm sure if there was a life and death situation, Mr. Dunn won't have a problem with that," Iannotti said.

Middletown Police Chief Lynn Baldoni did not immediately return a voice-mail message Tuesday.

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Contact Alaine Griffin at agriffin@courant.com, and Josh Kovner at jkovner@courant.com.