Glastonbury officer reprimanded over vehicle chase procedures

Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·2 min read

Nov. 7—GLASTONBURY — A local police officer has received a written reprimand for chasing a vehicle with a stolen license plate without notifying the Police Department's dispatch center as required by department policy, according to a document obtained by the Journal Inquirer through a freedom of information request.

CHASE DISCIPLINE

OFFICER: Sergey Sharov.

POLICY VIOLATION: Failing to notify the Glastonbury Police Department dispatch center when starting a motor vehicle chase.

ACTION: Written reprimand.

Officer Sergey Sharov received the reprimand from Lt. Anthony Pagliughi.

The incident occurred after 5 p.m. on Aug. 31, when Sharov tried to stop the vehicle with the stolen plate.

The vehicle didn't stop as Sharov drove behind it on Putnam Boulevard, but the driver made a motion as if acknowledging the officer's attempt to pull him over, according to Pagliughi. However, the driver then accelerated through an intersection "in a clear attempt to elude you," the lieutenant wrote.

"Instead of notifying dispatch of what had transpired and acknowledging this now constituted a vehicular pursuit per GPD/Statewide Policy, you continued to follow the vehicle up onto Route 3 with your lights and siren activated pursuing this motor vehicle," Pagliughi continued.

He went on to say that the vehicle was stopped only after a state trooper who happened to be on Route 3 saw what was happening and assisted in the stop.

The lieutenant called Sharov's action an "intentional and willful" failure to comply with the department's policy on vehicle pursuits.

He warned that further violations might result in harsher disciplinary action.

An attempt to reach Sharov for comment was unsuccessful.

Sharov isn't the first local police officer to be reprimanded over the sensitive issue of motor vehicle pursuits.

A Sept. 7, 2020, chase on Main Street led to reprimands to two other officers by Pagliughi, who was then a sergeant. He reprimanded the officers for failing to follow certain department procedures even as he praised other aspects of their handling of the incident.

One of the things Pagliughi praised was the independent decision by Officer Jason DiBenedetto to break off the chase after about a quarter mile as the vehicle he was trying to stop reached a speed of about 65 mph on Main Street.

But Pagliughi criticized DiBenedetto for failing to include the pursuit in the original draft of his report on the incident. Pagliughi also criticized the DiBenedetto for failing to go to Forest Lane, where another officer stopped the vehicle, or have the officers who were there take enforcement action relating to the pursuit and "egregious motor vehicle violations" by the driver.

"I advised you that it was a high-liability area for the department and therefore was crucial to be documented in the report," Pagliughi wrote in reprimanding DiBenedetto.

For updates on Glastonbury, and recent crime and courts coverage in North-Central Connecticut, follow Alex Wood on Twitter: @AlexWoodJI1, Facebook: Alex Wood, and Instagram: @AlexWoodJI.