Barbaric White CT Cop Unleashes Police Dog Onto Latino Man Seeking Help after Crashing His Truck. Posed No Threat of Bodily Harm to Cop, Wasn’t Under Arrest and Was Defenseless to Use of Deadly Force

FANTASTIC PUBLIC SERVICE FROM RACIST SUSPECTS THAT IS UN-DECLINABLE AND UNCONTROLLABLE BY THE PUBLIC. From [HERE] Moments after crashing his truck one November 2019 night on Interstate 95 in Old Saybrook, Edward Riccio walked toward a police cruiser pulled over a short distance away alongside the busy highway.

A white officer spotted Riccio, jogged toward him and immediately gave a warning: “Get on the ground [or] you’ll be bit,” the officer shouted as he approached with a barking police dog, body camera footage recently obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media Group shows.

“Get on the ground! Get on the ground you’ll be bit,” the excited white cop yells at the Latino Man, who is on the cement shoulder of the interstate. “Get on the ground! Get on the ground! Turn around, turn around. You’re gonna get bit.” The Latino man stops walking and calming talks to the cop with his arms out stretched, nothing in his hands. He repeatedly says “You know me,” “I need help”. (later in the video he reminds Schulz he is a local business owner and he knows him from interacting with him - but all NGHRS are the same to racist cops and journalists).

Schulz again commands and yells at Riccio to turn around, again warns him he will otherwise be bitten. (under arrest for no reason charged with vapor charges). He clearly faced no imminent threat of harm or danger - no rational reason to use deadly force.

“I’m trying to get help,” Riccio says, repeatedly.

After Schulz once more commands him to get on the ground, Riccio asks ”will you help me.” The cop says yes if you turn around. The Latino man then tries to explain to the race soldier, “my truck is . .” but he is interrupted, ‘GET ON THE FUCKING GROUND.” The Latino man turns around and slowly walks away. Then the cop states “GET HIM” and unleashes his police dog on the defenseless man.

The dog seizes upon Riccio, sinking its teeth into his upper thigh. 

The incident left him hospitalized with bite wounds to his left leg, according to the department’s resulting use of force report.

(false) Police reports and legal filings indicate responding officers may have believed Riccio was intoxicated and had “fled” from the single-vehicle crash site after talking with paramedics. (the cop actually sounds like he slurring his speech).

It is now also the subject of a lawsuit, the second one filed against Old Saybrook involving ex-officer Tyler Schulz’s use of his dog.

In the first case, the town agreed to a $145,000 settlement to resolve a lawsuit by a woman who alleged she was bitten by Schulz’s police dog while another officer already had her pinned to the ground in an incident just two months prior to Riccio’s. The woman suffered puncture wounds to her left thigh and scarring, according to the lawsuit. 

In both cases, Old Saybrook denied wrongdoing in legal filings.

In Riccio’s case, which was filed in federal court in June 2021 and remains pending, the town claimed in court records he was intoxicated during his encounter with Schulz.

Schulz justified the use of force in an agency report, writing that Riccio spoke with slurred speech, was unsteady on his feet and ran toward the vehicular travel lane of I-95, putting himself and others at risk.

But a report by state police, which also responded to the crash, says Riccio was not tested for drugs or alcohol. He did not face charges pertaining to alcohol use or leaving the scene of a crash, and his lawyers vehemently deny he was intoxicated.

Kalfani Ture, a law enforcement expert who reviewed materials from the encounter at Hearst Connecticut Media’s request, said Riccio did not show signs of inebriation in the video, nor did he appear to run into traffic.

Given inconsistencies between the body camera footage and Schulz's report, Ture said he believed Schulz was not accurate in his account. 

Yet records show department supervisors ultimately cleared Schulz of wrongdoing in connection with the incident, called his actions justified and said his account of the event was consistent with video evidence.

Ture called the incident and the department’s handling of it “disturbing.” 

He noted the consequences could have been far worse for Riccio. The police dog “could have easily took a bite out of the femoral artery, and he could have bled out on the road,” Ture said. 

While the department deemed Schulz's use of force justified, it brought criminal charges against Riccio, including interfering with an officer, breach of peace, reckless use of a highway by a pedestrian and assault on a police canine because Riccio allegedly punched the dog’s head while being bit. All charges were eventually dismissed, Riccio’s attorney said.

As for Schulz, he no longer works for the Old Saybrook police department.

In March, state police arrested him following an off-duty fight at a restaurant. He was disciplined but continued to work for Old Saybrook police on a so-called “last-chance agreement” that made it easier for the department to fire him if he violated agency rules.

The state ultimately decided not to prosecute Schulz, who had faced one count of second-degree breach of peace. 

Then, in early August, Schulz resigned after an internal investigation found evidence he “participated in sexual acts while on duty” and was “untruthful under oath” during the probe, according to a letter police chief Michael Spera sent the police commission. The department also found evidence Schulz had been “tampering with Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) equipment to conceal his whereabouts while on duty,” the letter said. 

Spera at the time told the commission he would ask the state’s Police Officer Standards and Training Council to revoke Schulz’s certification to work in law enforcement in Connecticut. But as of Jan. 12, Schulz has not been decertified, a council official said.

The town signed a deal with Schulz to keep additional details of that investigation a secret in exchange for his resignation.

The deal also gave Schulz custody of his police dog, the same one involved in the two incidents.

Repeated requests for comment on this story were sent to Schulz. In December, he told a reporter in a text message he would have her arrested if she contacted him again.

Spera, who was originally named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit but had the count against him dismissed, hung up when contacted by a reporter to discuss this case and did not respond to subsequent requests for comment.