What led to deadly Easton raid?

91 Dogwood Drive in Easton, where a heavily armed group of police officers raided the home of Ronald Terebesi on May 18, 2008. Gonzalo Guizan of Norwalk was killed during the raid. 91 Dogwood Drive in Easton, where a heavily armed group of police officers raided the home of Ronald Terebesi on May 18, 2008. Gonzalo Guizan of Norwalk was killed during the raid. Photo: Brian A. Pounds Photo: Brian A. Pounds Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close What led to deadly Easton raid? 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

EASTON -- Gonzalo Guizan never had hurt anyone.

The 33-year-old Norwalk man formerly worked at Virgin Atlantic Airways in Norwalk. At the airline he met Easton resident Ronald Terebesi. When both men lost their jobs there they got together and talked about a possible business they could start.

Terebesi, who lived alone in the small ranch-style house at 91 Dogwood Drive, was not popular with his neighbors in the heavily wooded enclave. When the 46-year-old wasn't entertaining exotic dancers at his home, he liked to do recreational drugs and watch porn movies in the family room of his home.

Neighbors, including former Easton first selectman Anthony J. Colonnese, who lived on the block, had been pressuring Easton Police Chief John "Jack" Solomon to do something about Terebesi, especially after the boyfriend of one of the dancers fired shotgun blasts through Terebesi's windows.

On the morning of May 18, 2008, the Easton Police Department got a telephone call from "Chandra Parker."

It turns out that wasn't her real name, but that didn't matter. Solomon now had a reason to take action against Terebesi.

He called in members of the Southwest Regional Emergency Response Team, a SWAT force made up of police officers from Easton and four surrounding towns. Nine heavily armed officers charged into the home based on a search warrant that a miniscule amount of drugs had been seen there by Parker.

When the operation was over, Guizan, who was visiting Terebesi, had been shot dead.

More Information The civil rights lawsuit brought by Ronald Terebesi and the family of Gonzalo Guizan against the town of Easton and the police departments of Darien, Monroe, Trumbull and Wilton is scheduled to begin in U.S. District Court in New Haven in September.

The Guizan family and Terebesi have filed a civil rights lawsuit against Easton and the police departments of Darien, Monroe, Trumbull and Wilton that were involved in the raid. Recently released court documents, including depositions by police officers, reveal crucial new details about the raid and the events leading up to the operation.

Two officers expressed misgivings about the operation prior to its launch. The team's commander urged it be delayed; another officer suggested the SWAT-style raid wasn't even necessary. But Solomon insisted the raid had to be conducted that day.

A member of the team with the most critical role in the May 18 raid had received most of his training for a far different role in such an operation. He arrived an hour late to the pre-raid briefing.

And the woman whose complaint led to the search warrant and the raid had a criminal record and gave a false name to officers preparing the warrant -- all of which was never conveyed to the judge who authorized the search.

The lawsuit charges that the raid by the Southwest Regional Emergency Response Team should never have been ordered.

"The decision to call out SWERT to execute the warrant was unjustified, unreasonable, an arbitrary abuse of police power and not based on a legitimate law enforcement objective," the suit states. "It was intended to frighten, intimidate, harass and/or punish Terebisi and Guizan and, on information and belief, to further Solomon's interests."

Solomon, who had been chief since 1995, recently retired from the police department. His lawyer did not return calls and emails for comment. In his deposition testimony he states that based on the information he has now he would not have done anything differently in ordering the SWAT team to raid Terebesi's home. He claimed he wanted the raid done as soon as possible to ensure that evidence of criminal activity was not destroyed before they could seize it. He continued the raid was necessary to "obtain the evidence that the crime -- obviously a crime was occurring, and to obtain that evidence."

The trial is scheduled to begin in September in federal court in New Haven.

CHANDRA'S STORY

The morning of the raid only Officers Christopher Barton and Thomas Brennan were in the Easton police station. The pair were interviewing a woman who said her name was Chandra Parker. Earlier, in a phone call to the station from Norwalk, she had been insistent on telling the officers what she had seen the night before. She had agreed to drive to the station that day.

She arrived at about 9 a.m. and was ushered into a conference room.

The woman was extremely thin, her teeth heavily decayed and her eyes glassy and dilated, according to the police report. Her body twitched as she spoke.

She doesn't do drugs, she told the two officers. She doesn't even know the names of drugs or what they look like. But when she sees others doing drugs she feels it was her duty to report it, she said.

Parker, an exotic dancer, had worked a private party in Stratford the previous evening. Early on May 18, when she was back in Norwalk, she said she got a call from a man she knew only as Gonzalo who needed a ride to his friend Ron's house in Easton. She agreed to drive him there. When they got there in the early morning, the woman told officers, she sat on the couch while "Ron" watched a hard-core porn movie on his television. But after about 30 minutes, she said, she saw Ron pull a pinch of something from a tin and put it in a glass smoking pipe that he and Gonzalo smoked. She said she then left.

Although the woman couldn't recall the exact address she had been to, she said it was "Wood" something. Barton realized she was talking about Terebesi and immediately called Chief Solomon at his home.

Police would learn later Parker's real name was Pankov and she had a criminal record, including convictions for interfering with police, assault of a police officer, threatening and harrassment -- all things they later acknowledged might have made a difference to the judge who reviewed and signed the search warrant. But that information was not provided to the judge.

Barton and Solomon were very familiar with Ron Terebesi.

WELL-KNOWN TO POLICE

In March 2008, Easton police had received a late-night anonymous call from a woman that a man was having a seizure at 91 Dogwood Drive. Barton responded to the call along with EMTs. The door was unlocked and although Barton knocked several times he got no response. When Barton looked in a window he saw Terebesi asleep on a couch. He was alone, according to Barton's deposition testimony.

Concerned that Terebesi may be the victim of a seizure, Barton said, he and the EMTs went inside. He shook a startled Terebesi awake. An EMT then noticed what appeared to be two glass smoking pipes under Terebesi's leg. When Barton pointed out the pipes Terebesi appeared embarrassed but didn't deny they were his. Barton and an EMT then helped Terebesi up and as they did a loaded .357 Magnum handgun slid to the floor. Barton told a dazed Terebesi that he was probably going to get a warrant for his arrest for the pipes, and Terebesi was taken away by ambulance.

Although Terebesi had the gun legally, Barton took the weapon for safe keeping. It was the only gun ever found in the house.

dtepfer@ctpost.com; 203-330-6308; twitter.com/dantepfer