Bridgeport cops: You dump, you lose your car

Police Chief Armando Perez, Mayor Joe Ganim and City Council Member Alfredo Castillo examine a pickup truck seized after Perez said he caught the occupants dumping the cargo illegally. Police Chief Armando Perez, Mayor Joe Ganim and City Council Member Alfredo Castillo examine a pickup truck seized after Perez said he caught the occupants dumping the cargo illegally. Photo: Alex N. Gecan / Connecticut Post Photo: Alex N. Gecan / Connecticut Post Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Bridgeport cops: You dump, you lose your car 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

BRIDGEPORT - Police Chief Armando Perez was driving to a family night event at the city’s police academy Friday when he happened upon two men that he said were dumping trash out of the truck. He summoned other officers, who let the men go after giving one of them a citation for littering.

But the city will likely get to keep the truck.

Police will be cracking down on illegal dumping, according to Perez and Mayor Joe Ganim. Part of that thrust will involve taking advantage of a piece of state law that allows courts to hand out property used to commit a crime.

So now Alphonso Thompson of Shell Street is on the hook for a $219 fine, and Samantha Letourneau is facing the loss of her Chevrolet S-10.

According to police records, Jose Sauri of Anthony Street was driving Letourneau’s truck, and Thompson was dumping trash out of the bed when Perez rolled past them.

“My understanding is he was doing a job for someone, and he cleaned either a basement or a garage,” said Perez.

The chief said that when he chanced upon the two men Thompson was unloading his cargo under a flyover near Smith and Beardsley streets, a stone’s throw from the academy.

Perez noted that Thompson could just have easily taken his load to the city’s transfer station.

“He’s a resident of Bridgeport, it’s free, take it to the dump,” said Perez.

Ganim said that the city was going to drop the hammer on criminals slagging quality of life in the city, a move that he said goes hand-in-hand with efforts to curb violent crime and ramp up community policing. He and the chief said they intended fine offenders and confiscate vehicles where possible to deter dumping in the future.

“One of the things I noticed coming back in office, even before the chief was the chief, was that we had no task force, no focus on some of the quality of life issues in the city,” said Ganim.

Ganim and Perez said that police, firefighters, public works employees and city directors had put their heads together to hash out major nuisances plaguing the city.

Part of the equation, they indicated, was a matter of perception.

“It’s not going to be the wild West,” said Ganim. “Guns are coming off the street. It’s not going to be the wild West with traffic accidents. I know it sounds like, ‘Oh gee, we’ve got violent crime,’ but it makes a big difference.”

For now the tentative plan will involve surveillance cameras at dumping hot spots and a “cash for trash” program where Bridgeport residents may soon earn pocket money for bringing large parcels to the transfer station.

Ganim said he would not stand for people getting paid to clean out attics and basements and then flout the law but dumping the refuse all over the city.

Whether the city gets to keep the truck is dependent on whether Thompson is convicted of littering, but Perez, the first cop at the scene of the alleged dumping, said he was optimistic.

On Saturday, the 1993 Chevy was sitting in the police department’s lower parking lot on Congress Street, a household’s worth of trash still piled up in the bed collecting rain.

As for Thompson and Sauri, Perez said they had to walk home.

Residents seeking information on where to take garbage or trash may call the Public Facilities Department at (203) 576-7124 or the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s solid waste program at (860) 424-3366.

The number for the Bridgeport Police Department is (203) 581-5100.