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Alleging False Arrest, Laborer Sues New Canaan Woman and Four Cops
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Saying he was wrongfully arrested and lingered in prison for five months as a result, a laborer who three years ago worked on a Sheridan Road family’s chimney has filed a lawsuit that names the homeowner and four members of the New Canaan Police Department as defendants. According to a complaint filed Thursday on behalf of Jonathan Torres of Lake Grove, N.Y., the plaintiff and two others—employed by Milford-based Jade Enterprises in May 2012—had finished cleaning and repairing a chimney at a private New Canaan home when police opened an investigation that found the work done was “unwarranted, unnecessary and hazardous.”
Police were “called to the scene by the homeowner,” according to the lawsuit. There, the arresting officers consulted with a second home improvement company and, on the strength of that company’s “false statements,” arrested Torres and others on charges of second-degree larceny, a felony offense, as well as second-degree reckless endangerment, criminal impersonation, second-degree criminal trover, sales without a permit and unlicensed craftsman, the lawsuit said. The charges would be terminated on Dec. 13, 2012, according to the suit, though by then Torres, unable to post $50,000 bond, had spent five months in prison.