Ex-East Haven cop David Cari gets 30 months in prison

Former East Haven police Officer Dennis Spaulding, right, arrives at U.S. District Court in Hartford Tuesday morning. His sentencing was delayed until Thursday due to the snowstorm, but fellow former Officer David Cari was sentenced to 30 months in prison. less Former East Haven police Officer Dennis Spaulding, right, arrives at U.S. District Court in Hartford Tuesday morning. His sentencing was delayed until Thursday due to the snowstorm, but fellow former Officer ... more Photo: Peter Hvizdak — New Haven Register Photo: Peter Hvizdak — New Haven Register Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Ex-East Haven cop David Cari gets 30 months in prison 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

HARTFORD >> A federal judge Tuesday sentenced convicted former East Haven police Officer David Cari to serve 30 months in federal prison, but an afternoon snowstorm prompted him to postpone sentencing of fellow convicted former Officer Dennis Spaulding until Thursday.

Both were convicted in October for multiple civil rights abuses after a lengthy Department of Justice investigation into allegations of racial profiling. Both are retired from the force.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Thompson’s courtroom was packed at 11 a.m., as Cari’s family, friends and fellow officers sat on one side of the aisle to await sentencing.

On the other side of the aisle sat Ecuadorean residents of East Haven, several who had testified as prosecution witnesses to the allegations lobbed at the two officers.

Seated among them was the Rev. James Manship, pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Fair Haven and the man whose 26-second video shot while inside an East Haven general store proved to be the most crucial piece of evidence in the government’s case against Cari.

“Never did I think that video would get us to where we are today,” he said outside the courthouse, after Thompson handed down Cari’s 30-month sentence.

But it was precisely the audio of Manship’s February 2009 video that proved to discredit the arrest report Cari filed when he slapped handcuffs on the priest for filming him and Spaulding in the process of ordering employees at the Hispanic-owned My Country Store to remove more than 70 license plates mounted on the back wall during an investigation.

Cari charged Manship with interfering with police and disorderly conduct. It took less than a month for attorneys representing Manship to persuade a Superior Court judge to dismiss the charges. In the meantime, Cari scripted an arrest report frequently described by Richard J. Schechter, the government’s senior litigation counsel, as a “work of fiction.”

Evidence introduced to the jury showed that Cari altered Manship’s arrest report 27 times, a revelation Manship said Tuesday was “astonishing.”

“He lied, he perjured and it was not a simple mistake,” Manship said to Thompson during his statements to the court. “This was not a simple mistake. He did not abuse me but he tried to harm my reputation as a priest.”

The altering of Manship’s arrest report resulted in a federal charge of falsifying a police report, a penalty that carries up to 20 years in prison. Cari’s two other charges included conspiracy to violate civil rights and deprivation of rights by making a false arrest.

Spaulding was convicted on identical charges, including an unreasonable-force charge.

Before Manship spoke, Thompson allowed several of Cari’s family members, friends, colleagues and an East Haven priest to speak in behalf of his character.

Retired state Trooper Dan Sivori spoke about March 14, 2006, the day he said Cari saved another officer’s life during a shootout on the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge in New Haven.

Reports from that incident indicate Cari and other East Haven officers were pursuing a car allegedly involved in an armed robbery. Police caught up with the car on the bridge and managed to handcuff the driver. It was then that Cari spotted another passenger, later identified as Christopher Morro, with his finger on the trigger of a Walther P38.

Cari hollered “gun!” and dove onto Morro. Officers reported hearing three or four shots. Morro had shot Cari in the lower back. Sivori was shot in the chest but the bullet did not pierce his body armor.

Sivori talked about that day and the four years that followed. He spoke about his battles with post-traumatic stress disorder and about Cari’s own struggle with PTSD. Sivori described the symptoms of PTSD as having a profound effect on his temper, which he said “can go zero to 60 mph.”

“I was fortunate,” he said. “I retired after four years.”

Others who spoke on behalf of Cari included his sister, Suzanne Monaco. She said her brother at first did not want to return as a police officer. Monaco described how Cari later eased back into his work, this time as a K9 officer. She talked about how her brother’s PTSD affected his mood, but added that he was helped by the presence of his police dog, Daro.

Cari’s attorney, Alex V. Hernandez, said his client “rallied” to work despite his PTSD. He pointed out that one symptom is the tendency to become “hyper-aware” of potential threats. Last year, Thompson heard from Dr. Linda Berger, who treated Cari. She did not testify during the trial but said there was a “90 percent chance” Cari experienced a detachment from reality on the day he arrested Manship.

But Schechter, addressing requests from Hernandez for a lenient sentence, argued that PTSD did not play a role in Cari’s falsified arrest report.

“PTSD allows him (Cari) to use it as a crutch to explain away his criminal conduct,” Schechter said.

Before delivering the sentence, Thompson said it would be “inappropriate” to weigh any tales of Cari’s heroism as a police officer when determining punishment. He added that Cari “at the same time tried to destroy the career of a victim (Manship) whose mission is also about public service.”

“He (Manship) could well have gone to jail had it not been for the audio portion of that recording,” Thompson added.

Thompson also noted the dozens of letters sent to his office from supporters of Cari. He referred to one particular letter sent by another East Haven police officer. The letter, he said, tried to shift blame away from Cari and Spaulding and onto the policies and procedures that were in place in the department at the time.

“It raises questions, but, in the end, the line between what is wrong and what is right are so clear it’s unmistakable,” Thompson said.

Cari, addressing the court, thanked federal lawmen and prison officials for their “professional treatment” of him over the last three months. Immediately after his October conviction he was willingly incarcerated.

Those three months will count as time served, meaning he will serve a maximum of 27 more months.

Cari also admitted he erred when he decided to go hunting in January 2013, violating the terms of his bond. His arrest by Regional Water Authority officials led to a judge ordering his home confinement.

On Tuesday, Cari asked Thompson if he could spend several weeks before beginning his sentence, citing the need to take care of personal business, including caring for Daro.

Schechter openly wondered, upon hearing Cari’s request, as to whether the “Bureau of Prisons is now a hotel, where he can check in and out at his convenience.”

“Can his dog visit him in prison?” Schechter said. “We don’t oppose that.”

But Thompson granted Cari’s request and said he did not view Cari as a danger. He referred to the time Cari spent under house arrest, which he pointed out was free of incidents.

Thompson noted Cari’s decision to subject himself to prison life immediately after his conviction. He also noted that Spaulding had three months free of incarceration before his Thursday sentencing date.

The victory is a modest one for Cari, as he will not be forced to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons until Feb. 25. After the end of his term, Cari will serve 30 months of supervised release.

Cari is the second of four officers named in the Department of Justice’s 2012 federal indictment to be sentenced. Last month, Thompson sentenced retired Officer Jason Zullo to serve two years, the maximum time allowed under the agreement Zullo made with federal prosecutors after pleading guilty to charges unrelated to racial profiling.

Retired Sgt. John Miller, one of the supervisors for the three officers, will be sentenced in February. Like Zullo, Miller pleaded guilty to a charge unrelated to racial profiling.

Manship, speaking outside court after Cari’s sentencing, said Tuesday was not a day to celebrate. When asked if he’s observed improvements in the department’s relations with minorities, Manship said he wasn’t sure.

“I’ll know the next time one of my parishioners is stopped; only time will tell,” he said. “And then we’ll see how they’re treated.”

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