Watch East Haven Mayor Maturo’s accident NHPD bodycam videos

Feb. 09--EAST HAVEN -- If you're looking for something controversial in two New Haven Police Department body cam videos released this week of the aftermath of Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr.'s Jan. 3, 2018, auto accident in New Haven, you'd better look somewhere else.

Take the 44 minutes and 56 seconds to watch the two videos, which clock in at 18 minutes and 33 seconds, and 23 minutes and 23 seconds, respectively, and you'll see mostly a bunch of pedestrian stuff.

You'll see -- from two different angles and officers' points of view -- the mayor being treated pretty much like anyone else in this situation might be.

You'll also see Maturo acting pretty much like anyone else in his situation might act.

He sits in an associate's SUV and waits, he talks to a police officer about what happened and at one point is seen cleaning out his belongings -- his umbrella, his snow scraper, a box of tissue -- before his undrivable, town-owned car is towed.

New Haven police released the videos in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from Hearst Connecticut Media.

The other guy involved in the two-vehicle accident at Main Street Annex, Huntington Avenue and Oakley Street in New Haven's Annex section -- just a few yards across the New Haven-East Haven boarder -- is Tri-Lift Inc. van driver Michael Schuler of North Branford.

Schuler, who had complained of neck pain after his van struck a utility pole -- and has since sued Maturo and the town after police found Maturo to be at fault -- is already gone from the scene, taken to the hospital, by time the first video begins.

But you hear a supervisor from Schuler's company tell a just-arriving New Haven police officer at one point early-on that the other part involved is "the mayor of New Haven."

While the cops appear to know full-well that Maturo's dark blue, town-issued Ford Crown Victoria -- with Connecticut license plate "1 EHA" -- is driven by the mayor of East Haven, and say so at various times, they don't seem to treat him any differently than they might treat anyone else.

At one point, one body cam-wearing officer asks Maturo for his permission to go through his vehicle's glove compartment, ostensibly to retrieve his vehicle insurance card and registration.

Maturo gives him permission to do so.

Asked about the videos on Friday, Maturo said, "This is the fourth article the New Haven Register has done regarding an accident that happened 13 months ago, where the same vehicle that was involved in the accident was put back into service a couple of months afterwards.

"If the fake-news Register wants to write another article about this accident rather than write about the good things we are doing for the town, so be it," Maturo said.

He said he will have no further comment on the accident.

At various points in the recordings, officers ask Maturo if he is OK.

"A little stiff neck, but that's OK," Maturo responds at one point.

A few minutes earlier, an officer asked Maturo what happened.

"I was taking a left turn and there was a bus coming the other way, and he let me go when I turned ... I think the other guy (Schuler) went around the bus."

Maturo told the officer, in response to another question, that he had planned to turn left onto Huntington, coming from East Haven.

Asked whether the other driver had gone around the passenger side of the bus, Maturo responded, ""I would imagine it was the passenger side. It's hard to remember."

Police later found that Maturo was at fault because Schuler had the right of way, although Schuler admitted to police that he was traveling 10 mph faster than the 25 mph speed limit posted, according to a police accident report.

Schuler subsequently sued the mayor and the town in Superior Court in New Haven on Nov. 5, 2018, alleging that Maturo caused thousands of dollars in damage as a result of "negligence and carelessness." The lawsuit seeks damages totaling more than $15,000 from Maturo and the town.

Both Town Attorney Joe Zullo and the town's litigation attorney, Hugh Keefe, said the cost to defend Maturo should be covered by the town's annual retainer for Keefe's firm.

Schuler said in the lawsuit that he was driving a cargo van east on Main Street Annex through the intersection of Huntington Avenue at 9:44 a.m. on Jan. 3, 2018. When Maturo, driving west on Main Street Annex in a blue Crown Victoria owned by the town, tried to make a left turn on Huntington Avenue, his car struck Schuler's.

"The defendant negligently operated his motor vehicle when he attempted to make a left turn on Huntington Avenue," the lawsuit reads.

Schuler steered his van to the right to avoid Maturo's car, the complaint says, and he struck the front passenger side of Maturo's car.

"The force of the impact caused the plaintiff's vehicle to travel forward into a utility pole," the suit says.

Schuler was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital for injuries he suffered from the crash, according to the police report. The front airbag in the van he was driving deployed and the van was towed due to "disabling damage," the report says.

Schuler's attorney, Edmund Collier, said his client suffered temporary and permanent injuries, including cervical, lumbar and wrist sprains and a contusion of his chest wall.

The lawsuit said Schuler was injured due to the "negligence and carelessness" of Maturo. The mayor drove faster than the circumstances warranted, was inattentive and failed to look out for other vehicles, failed to use his brakes and failed to yield right-of-way, the document says.

Schuler had to cover the cost of an ambulance, medical treatment, X-rays, diagnostic tests and physical therapy, his attorney said.

"As a further result of this occurrence, the plaintiff's overall quality of life has been greatly diminished," according to the complaint.

Maturo's car sustained "heavy front end damage" and was towed by a company for the East Haven Police Department, according to the police report.

[email protected]. Hearst Connecticut Media reporter Hannah Dellinger contributed to this story.

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