Internal investigation: Why did Hamden police release man who then went missing?

Peter Recchia Peter Recchia Photo: Middletown Police Department Photo: Middletown Police Department Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Internal investigation: Why did Hamden police release man who then went missing? 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

HAMDEN — Police have launched an internal affairs investigation after learning that officers encountered a Middletown man during a reported break-in, but let the man go — before he was reported missing later in the day, according to Hamden police.

A Hamden woman called police on Oct. 3 after Peter Recchia reportedly entered her home through an unlocked door in the early morning hours, Capt. Ronald Smith said in a release. She found him sitting at her kitchen table and convinced him to leave the home, Smith said.

Smith said police found Recchia walking south on State Street after the incident.

“The officer determined that Recchia wasn’t a danger to himself or others. He was advised that he could leave,” Smith said.

Recchia had not yet been reported missing at the time of the incident, Smith said. The call to Hamden police came in at 4:15 a.m., he said, while Middletown police issued a Silver Alert for him at approximately 8:30 p.m.

The woman, identified by Fox 61 as Anadia Cabrera, didn’t know Recchia was missing but she later realized he was wearing the same clothes listed in a Silver Alert published four days later, she told the TV station.

Cabrera said she believed Hamden police should have taken Recchia into custody, as he seemed to be unwell.

“They knew he had some, you know, that he wasn’t well, so to help him they should have taken him in that night, it just made us so upset they didn’t do that,” she said, according to Fox 61.

Recchia was still missing as of early Wednesday afternoon. He last was seen wearing a royal blue, short-sleeved shirt, jeans, a black belt and black sneakers. He has gray hair, a mustache, green eyes and rectangular eyeglasses. He is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs about 150 pounds.

Smith said the Hamden Police Department Ethics and Integrity Division had begun an internal investigation.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Middletown police Detective Jimmy Lacasse at 860-638-4134. If Lacasse can not be immediately reached, call the local police department.