Bridgeport cop charged with assault, DUI in wrong-way crash

Bridgeport police officer John Carrano Bridgeport police officer John Carrano Photo: BK Angeletti / File Photo Photo: BK Angeletti / File Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Bridgeport cop charged with assault, DUI in wrong-way crash 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

STRATFORD — A veteran Bridgeport cop and member of the department’s SWAT team was charged Tuesday with driving drunk and injuring a young Trumbull woman in a wrong-way crash.

Police said Officer John Carrano had a blood/alcohol level of .25 - more than three times the legal limit - when he drove the wrong way on Broadbridge Avenue and ran head on into the vehicle of the 19-year-old woman, who is the granddaughter of former Bridgeport mayor Thomas Bucci.

The victim suffered a broken right wrist and fractures of her right ankle that required surgery, police said. Carrano suffered only minor injuries.

They said Carrrano denied drinking and even being in a crash.

Carrano, 33, a member of the Bridgeport police force for seven years, was charged Tuesday with second-degree assault with a motor vehicle, operating under the influence, driving the wrong way and failure to drive right.

He was released after posting $25,000 bond, pending arraignment in Superior Court on April 4.

Bridgeport Police Chief Armando Perez said Carrano is on administrative duty, pending further investigation.

“He is a good officer who made a terrible mistake and is going to go through the judicial process,” Perez said. “This will be a lesson to other young officers that they have a super responsibility and can’t drink and drive. Hopefully the young woman is continuing to recover from her injuries.”

Police said the crash occurred after Carrano left a holiday party shortly after midnight on Dec. 23, 2017.

Officers who responded to the scene on Broadbridge Avenue found a 2010 Nissan Altima, owned by Carrano, and a 2004 Volkswagon Jetta, owned by the victim, in the northbound lane. Both drivers had to be extricated by firefighters.

Police said a witness told them she had been traveling on Broadbridge Avenue behind the Volkswagon when the Nissan appeared suddenly in front of the Volkswagon.

A Stratford police officer reported that when she got to the the crash sceene, she was approached by a man who identified himself as a Bridgeport police officer and who identified Carrano as a police officer. Police said the man told the officer he had been driving behind Carrano.

“The male kept trying to talk to this officer (to the point where) I had to tell him, ‘get out of my face and to stand on the esplanade,’ ” the police report states.

The report continues that Carrano was uncooperative with hospital staff, stating, “I don’t know why I am here, I was not involved in a car accident.”