Unkillable Monster

police Sergeant Acquitted Of Hindering Son Drunken Driving Probe Gets

Former Windsor Locks Police Sgt. Robert Koistinen leaves Hartford Superior Court with family members after a jury acquitted him in 2012. (MICHAEL McANDREWS / Hartford Courant)

By Dave Altimari contact the reporter

Crime Drunk Driving Trials and Arbitration Sergeant acquitted of hindering drunken driving investigation of his son gets $460,000 deal.

The Windsor Locks Police Commission has approved a settlement that will pay Robert Koistinen, the sergeant acquitted of hindering the drunken driving investigation of his son, $460,000 to end his labor dispute with the town.

Henry Dang Photo Courtesy Of Family Friend

Photo of Henry Dang. Michael Koistinen and his father, former Windsor Locks police Sgt. Robert Koistinen, were charged in connection with the death of 15 year old Henry Dang at Spring and West streets in Windsor Locks at about midnight Oct. 30, 2010.

Photo of Henry Dang. Michael Koistinen and his father, former Windsor Locks police Sgt. Robert Koistinen, were charged in connection with the death of 15 year old Henry Dang at Spring and West streets in Windsor Locks at about midnight Oct. 30, 2010. (Photo Courtesy Of Family Friend)

The lump sum payment needs to be approved by town officials before going to a town meeting, which will be scheduled for next week. If the payment is approved, Koistinen, a 33 year veteran of the department, will end up with a higher payment than the family of Henry Dang, the teenager who was killed when former Windsor Locks Officer Michael Koistinen struck him with his car while Dang was riding his bike home in October 2010.

Dang’s family settled two lawsuits against the town and a Suffield bar where Michael Koistinen had been drinking before the accident for $420,000.

Police Commission Chairman Michael Royston said that the settlement includes about $265,000 in back pay that the town owes Robert Koistinen and $195,000 to drop his labor complaint against the town.

The town also will pay Koistinen and his wife Kimberly’s health insurance costs for seven years and add two additional years to his pension.

ConnecticutPDF: Agreement Between Windsor Locks And KoistinenSee all related8 «There has been this dark cloud hanging over the police department and the town for too long now and it is time to try and put this behind us,» Royston said.

Royston said that if the settlement is not approved at the town meeting, Robert Koistinen will immediately be reinstated to the police department and become the fourth highest ranking officer. The town would still owe him the back pay, Royston said.

«Nobody wants him back, so then the question becomes what do you pay him not to come back?» Royston said.

First Selectman Steven Wawruck said that if the town kept fighting in court, the case could drag on for years with appeals costing the town significant legal fees with no guarantee of overturning an arbitration panel’s ruling that Koistinen be reinstated.

«This is a hard pill to swallow but we need to cut our losses and move forward as a town and a police department,» Wawruck said. «If we don’t want [Koistinen] back in the department, this is what it is going to cost.»

Robert Koistinen was initially placed on administrative leave following the crash but eventually was fired for not following department regulations. He was the senior officer on duty when the accident occurred on Oct. 30, 2010.

A state police investigation showed that Michael Koistinen had been drinking for hours before the crash at a bar in Suffield and that a witness saw him throw «an object» out of the car into her yard shortly after his vehicle struck and killed Dang.

The woman told the first Windsor Locks officer she saw on scene, who happened to be Robert Koistinen, about the object, but he did only a cursory search for it, the investigation found.

No one searched for the object for more than four hours before members of the regional accident reconstruction team found a broken beer glass from the Suffield Tavern in the woman’s yard.

Robert Koistinen removed his son from the accident scene, placing him in the back of the department’s SUV and driving him back and forth to the police station several times.

Michael Koistinen was then taken to the hospital, and when officers from the regional accident reconstruction team showed up to take a blood/alcohol test on his son, Robert Koistinen wouldn’t permit it.

Michael Koistinen pleaded guilty to second degree manslaughter and is serving a 64 month sentence at the MacDougall Walker Correctional Center. Robert Koistinen was charged with hindering prosecution and was acquitted by a jury in 2012.

Robert Koistinen then sued the town and state police and received a settlement of about $187,000. He also appealed to the state Board of Mediation and Arbitration to get his job back. The board ruled in his favor, ruling that the town should have suspended him for one year and then returned him to work. The board ordered the town to reinstate him with back pay and benefits.

The town filed an appeal of that ruling at Superior Court, but Royston said that rather than continue the court fight, the police commission entered into negotiations to end the case. Those negotiations have been going on for nearly two years.

The settlement was approved by the board of finance Wednesday night, and now goes to the board of selectmen. If the selectmen approve the settlement they would set the date for the town meeting, which probably would be March 5.Articles Connexes：