The Police Commission unanimously voted on May 23 to hand a 90-day unpaid suspension to an Old Saybrook police officer accused of choking a man in a bar fight while off duty. The move comes days after the state declined to prosecute the case.

On March 3, Old Saybrook Police Officer Tyler Schulz was charged with breach of peace in the second degree after witnesses said he choked a man and pushed another while intoxicated at Essex restaurant Scotch Plains Tavern in February. Schulz has been on paid administrative leave since he was charged and was subject to an internal investigation by the police department.

After coming out of an executive session at the May 23 meeting, the commission unanimously voted to offer a last chance agreement to Schulz. According to the agreement between the Police Commission and union, Schulz will serve a 90-day unpaid suspension and undergo a psychological assessment by the department psychologist before he is allowed to be reinstated. Schulz will also be removed from his position as K-9 coordinator.

Schulz will need to undergo mandatory de-escalation, use of force, domestic violence, and gender sensitivity courses. Additional requirements may also be set forth by the fitness of duty evaluation.

Per the agreement, should Schulz violate the Uniform Standards of Conduct, he can be terminated with just cause. The terms of the agreement will continue for five years from when he is reinstated.

Schulz is actually the second police officer from the department to face discipline in recent months. In early January, the commission narrowly voted to fire Old Saybrook Police Officer Austin Harris after he filed a false police report and lied to his superiors about how the computer in his police car was damaged.

Harris, who is appealing his firing with the state, initially filed a report claiming he damaged the computer in his car slamming on the brakes to avoid a pack of raccoons. Later he admitted he was actually listening to music and got carried away while pretending to play the drums on his computer.

Asked why he felt it was appropriate for the commission to fire Harris, who didn’t harm anyone, but not fire Schulz, who allegedly did, Police Commission Chair Alfred Wilcox said, “I can’t speak for the other commissioners, but in my mind, there were three factors that made a difference.

“Most importantly, Harris admittedly lied in a sworn statement, effectively depriving himself of credibility in any future criminal prosecution, and thereby severely compromising his effectiveness as a law enforcement officer; Schulz didn’t. Harris was on duty; Schulz wasn’t,” Wilcox said.

“Harris presumably was sober; Schulz admittedly had so many drinks he was incapable of exercising sound judgment at the time. The adverse fact that he had way too much to drink was somewhat mitigated by the fact that he was in a familial celebration of his birthday at the time. Viewing these facts in light of how the Board of Mediation and Arbitration might treat whatever decision the Police Commission made in an appeal from our decision, it seemed to me clear that different outcomes were appropriate,” Wilcox continued.

The Case Against Schulz

Before the commission met, Schulz appeared in court on May 17 where the state declined to prosecute the case. According to a report from Meghan Friedmann of Hearst Connecticut, “State Prosecutor Jeffrey Doskos, who was handling the case, told the court his office tried to reach out to the complainant but had not received a response. Doskos also had seen documentation indicating Schulz had undergone treatment, he said.”

Doskos did not return to multiple requests for comment from the Harbor News.

According to an affidavit written by Connecticut State Trooper Mark Roberts, the two alleged victims were hesitant to press charges at the time of the incident “due to the potential for retaliation.” However, in the subsequent internal investigation completed by the Old Saybrook police only one person interviewed expressed concern about Schulz being able to work as an officer.

Roberts’s report stated that, shortly after midnight on Feb. 27, an employee of Scotch Plains Tavern in Essex called 9-1-1 to report a bar fight between a large group of people.

After viewing security footage of the incident, Roberts wrote he observed one man “forcefully shove/strike [the other man] backward on the shuffle board table.” According to a witness who was later questioned, the man in the video was identified as Schulz.

After further investigation, Roberts wrote that one alleged victim stated that he and Schulz had had a close relationship until fairly recently. The victim reported to Roberts that after Schulz had gone through a divorce his behavior had changed in ways the person called “disturbing.”

The victim told Roberts that he unexpectedly ran into Schulz at the restaurant, where Schulz later tried to start up a conversation. According to Roberts’s report, the victim claims that he told Schulz he didn’t want to talk to him “because [Schulz] was clearly intoxicated.” The fracas started soon after.

The victim told Roberts that at one point during the disturbance after people tried to pull the men apart, he saw Schulz put his hands on another person’s throat; he also described seeing red marks on that person’s throat once Schulz had been pulled off the second person.

Roberts’s report states that photos emailed to him by a second alleged victim show a person with “significant red marks and scratches on both sides of his neck consistent with his account.”

After speaking with Schulz, Roberts wrote that Schulz claimed that the group of people had antagonized him earlier in the night leading to the fight and told Roberts that “nice guys finish last.”

Roberts wrote that “Schulz’s partial account…did not match the video surveillance segments that I observed, the account of the manager, the account of the victim, or the accounts of either of the witnesses.”

The Internal Report

In a document sent to the police commission on April 6, Old Saybrook Police Chief Michael Spera wrote on April 6 that “To say the least, Patrolman Schulz’s off duty conduct and subsequent arrest are of great disappointment and embarrassment for our agency. He has brought shame and discredit to the department and may have lessened the public’s trust in our agency. “

Spera instructed Captain Jeffrey DePerry to conduct an internal investigation into the Schulz’s action. The report was completed on March 31 and made available to the Harbor News on May 24.

In DePerry’s report much of what had previously been reported was not disputed. Schulz admitted to having had a lot to drink at his birthday party held earlier in the day before even arriving at the Essex restaurant where he continued to drink more. He can be seen on camera initiating verbal contact in the pool area.

What is unclear, according to DePerry’s report, is who initiated physical contact. As Spera noted in his letter to the commission, “[DePerry’s] review was conducted using multiple angles. The State Police’s criminal investigation utilized solely the pool/recreation room camera.”

DePerry also interviewed 16 witnesses who gave conflicting reports of who started physical contact.

According to the report, Schulz does push one victim and for the next 43 seconds a brawl ensued. DePerry wrote that during the course of the altercation, Schulz threw no closed-fist punches but was punched, pushed, grabbed, and choked at different points by multiple people before the fight was broken up.

The harshest punishment Spera can hand out as chief is a 10-day unpaid suspension; anything further requires the approval of the Police Commission. In determining what discipline Schulz should face, Spera wrote, “I also spent time considering if Patrolman Schulz were to continue his law enforcement career, would he be able to do so effectively? Would he be able to meet workplace expectations, is it possible for him to reassimilate with his peers and gain their trust and respect, and could the Old Saybrook community trust him once again as one of their guardians?”

Spera said the answer to those questions “rest solely with Patrolman Schulz” and noted that his emotional and psychological wellbeing must be assessed as well as the trust of the public, his peers, and superiors relearned.

However, Spera wrote that Schulz should be given the chance to try and regain that trust.

“These tasks may not be easy or swift. However, I feel strongly that we must allow him, should he desire, an unbarred opportunity to do so. As society and the law enforcement community embrace a ‘Second Chance Society’ practice, police officers, who do not violate the Police Accountability Act, should have the same opportunities, as any citizen has, to rehabilitate their personal and professional selves,” Spera wrote.

Spera declined to comment beyond the letter.