Norwalk cop charged with DUI was once accused of molesting woman in traffic stop

Nov. 18--NORWALK -- The city cop facing charges of interfering with a police officer after allegedly leaving the scene of a drunken driving accident this summer was once suspended 500 days.

However, the suspension -- and the reason for it -- is not included in Hector Delgado's personnel file with the Norwalk Police Department.

In December 1996, Delgado was charged with third-degree sexual assault and unlawful restraint after a 28-year-old mother of three accused him of molesting her during a traffic stop.

The department placed Delgado, who had then only been on the job for three years, on administrative leave during the investigation, but that was later changed to a suspension without pay following his arrest.

A jury eventually acquitted Delgado in January 1998. He was allowed to rejoin the police force after reaching a disciplinary settlement with the department. As part of the settlement, he received a time-served, 500-day suspension.

WATCH: Body cam footage shows Norwalk cop taken to ground during arrest

The Norwalk Police Department did not include any information regarding the 1996 charges or suspension in Delgado's comprehensive employee report, which was released under a Freedom of Information Act request made after his August arrest.

Delgado, a 26-year veteran with the department, was charged in August with driving under the influence, illegally carrying a firearm while under the influence and failure to drive in the proper lane.

Delgado was then charged last week with interfering with an officer stemming from body cam footage of the incident that showed him resisting being placed in handcuffs, the state's attorney said.

Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling, who was police chief in 1996, said documentation of Delgado's suspension should still be included in his personnel file, despite his acquittal in court.

"Any suspension should always remain in the employee's file, unless for some reason, he appealed it and it was overturned by the state labor board," Rilling said. "I don't recall that happening, though."

Rilling reinstated Delgado in May 1998 after the city's corporate counsel, Jeffrey Spahr, determined it wasn't a decision that could be made by the Police Commission.

Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik said last week that he could not say why the lengthy suspension had been omitted from the information that was released in August, but he said it could be because it was not migrated to the department's new system.

"It was not among the items in IA Trak, which we have been using for many years as a tracking tool. I am guessing since it was so long ago that it may be prior to the use of that software," said Kulhawik, who was a sergeant at the time of the incident.

Kulhawik said he didn't "personally recall the circumstances" about the 1996 case. The department is now searching its archives for records of the incident, he said.

Matthew Reed, a former police officer who is now a staff attorney for the state Freedom of Information Commission, said Kulhawik's theory on the missing records rings true. What doesn't make sense, Reed said, was that Kulhawik and others who were around at the time of the incident didn't notice the records were missing when they were requested in August.

"I do know, just from 28 years in the municipal world, that I could see something like that happening," Reed said. "But what I don't see happening is someone getting the request and not thinking 'Huh, why isn't all this stuff on Officer So-and-So in the file here. Where would the rest of it be?' That's the part that stumps me."

Delgado and his attorney, Noah Kores, have not returned calls for comment.

The alleged incident occurred in October 1996 during a traffic stop. The woman claimed Delgado pulled her over around 2 p.m. that day and accused her of buying drugs.

Delgado, the accuser claimed, told her he would either need to conduct a body search by himself or, since there were no women on duty, bring her back for booking and wait for a female officer.

The woman, who was in a custody battle with her estranged husband at the time, said she broke down crying when this happened. This is where accounts began to differ.

Delgado claimed the woman exposed herself and told him, "Look, I have no drugs." The woman, however, said Delgado told her "it would be a shame" if she was arrested and lost custody of her children.

"He told me now he had every right to arrest me," she said during the trial.

She claimed he then pulled the collar of her shirt out and looked inside. She claimed he later ordered her to pull the waistband of her pants out and then shoved his hand inside.

After the incident, Delgado told the woman to meet him at the police department to show him her driver's license and proof of insurance, neither of which she had at the time of the stop. She showed up for that meeting, and later filed a complaint about the traffic stop.

Delgado and the woman eventually met up a second time. For this meeting, Internal Affairs detectives equipped the woman with a wire to listen to her conversation with Delgado. In the taped conversation, Delgado repeatedly denied the accusations, but he also apologized to her and contradicted parts of his testimony, according to reports at the time.

Two of Delgado's supervisors, Capt. John Suchy and Lt. Thomas Cummings, testified against him at trial, claiming the officer's story was "incoherent."

Suchy and Cummings testified that Delgado acted suspiciously during their investigation and could not give a clear account of his encounters with the woman. They also claimed Delgado tried to hide the report of the incident from his supervisor before it was filed with the records division.

During the trial, Suchy said Delgado had bragged about the woman having a "nice body."

However, jurors said they didn't believe the woman's story.

"The credibility of the complainant was the major issue," Adam Williams, a Darien stockbroker who served as jury foreman, said at the time. "In all of our minds, that's what the main issue was -- credibility."

Following his 500-day suspension, Delgado has been suspended by the department at least four more times and has had nine substantiated complaints made against him since 2003.

According to his comprehensive employee report, he was suspended three days for incompetence, unbecoming behavior and violation of rules in 2003. In 2011, he was suspended five days for violating and failing to conform to department rules. In 2012, he was suspended 10 days for unbecoming conduct.

In 2015, Kulhawik ordered Delgado to undergo counseling for instances of insubordination and neglect of duty.

Most recently, Delgado was suspended five days last month for the drunken driving incident in August. Delgado was seeking a pretrial probation program that would have wiped the charges if successfully completed, but that's been put in jeopardy by the new interfering with an officer charge.

Kulhawik said the department would review the internal case against Delgado once the criminal charges are adjudicated.

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