Date: Fri 24-Nov-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

police-Czap-lawsuit-

Full Text:

Police Sued In Connection With Double Murder-Suicide

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

The estate of a woman who was murdered early on Thankgiving morning in 1993 is

suing the town, claiming that the police acted negligently and carelessly in

connection with the circumstances that led to her death at the hands of an

ex-boyfriend.

In the lawsuit filed in Danbury Superior Court, Frederick P. Czap of Danbury,

the administrator of the estate of his late daughter, Christine R. Czap, sues

the Town of Newtown, Police Chief Michael DeJoseph, and Police Patrolmen

Robert D. Haas and Aaron Bahamonde.

Chief DeJoseph was unavailable for comment on the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, the Czap estate seeks an unspecified amount of damages

exceeding $15,000, costs, interest fees, attorneys fees, and other possible

relief.

In a grisly triple homicide involving a love triangle, Michael Swift, 25, of

Newtown, a former boyfriend of Ms Czap, confronted her and John Krafscik, 28,

of Newtown at about 1 am on November 25, 1993, at Ms Czap's 126 South Main

Street residence where Mr Swift shot Mr Krafscik twice killing him, then shot

Ms Czap, 25, five times killing her, and then turned the murder weapon on

himself and committed suicide. Mr Swift formerly had lived at 126 South Main

Street with Ms Czap.

In a frantic 911 telephone call to police, Ms Czap alerted police that Mr

Swift had confronted her, after which police rushed to the scene only to find

the three young adults dead or dying in pools of blood.

After a basic investigation of the murders, police said that Ms Czap and Mr

Swift had been involved in a long-term relationship which had gone sour.

The gun Mr Swift had used to kill Mr Krafscik, Ms Czap, and himself was a 9mm

Ruger semi-automatic pistol, Model P-89.

According to the lawsuit, about one month before the gun was used in the

killings, it was in the possession of the Newtown police department. The

police had confiscated the gun from Mr Swift as part of an investigation into

an incident that occurred in Newtown on October 23, 1993, according to the

suit. In that incident Mr Swift and Ms Czap exchanged words and apparently

became involved in a shoving match, according to the lawsuit. Later, based on

Ms Czap's statement that she had been threatened and assaulted in addition to

corroborating physical evidence, police decided to apply for an arrest warrant

for Mr Swift, according to the court papers.

On October 25, 1993, although the police were seeking an arrest warrant

against Swift, they returned the pistol and its hollow-point ammunition to

Swift, according to the lawsuit. Hollow-point ammunition is designed to cause

maximum damage against a target.

The suit further alleges that on November 2, 1993, Patrolman Bahamonde

responded to an incident between Mr Swift and Ms Czap. The suit adds that

Patrolman Haas responded to a confrontation between Mr Swift and Ms Czap on

November 12. The lawsuit further charges that both Patrolmen Haas and

Bahamonde responded to a call made by Ms Czap from her home on November 19.

The lawsuit states that when Patrolman Bahamonde arrived at her home on

November 19, he found Swift there armed with the pistol. "Despite the threat

posed to Ms Czap by Michael Swift and his gun and his knowledge that the

police had been called to the premises many times, the defendant Bahamonde did

not take the gun away from Swift, but only had him place it in his (Swift's)

truck," the lawsuit states.

When Patrolman Haas arrived at Ms Czap's house on November 19, he spoke with a

visibly agitated Swift, according to the suit. Although Swift denied having

had anything to drink, the officer smelled alcohol on his breath, the suit

states. Despite Swift's visible agitation, his apparent lie about not drinking

and Patrolman Haas' knowledge that police had been called to the house many

times, Haas made no attempt at the time to secure Swift's gun, according to

the legal papers.

Later, when inside the house, Patrolman Haas found Ms Czap visibly upset and

crying and she told him Swift had come into the house yelling and screaming at

her, the lawsuit alleges. She told the policeman that Swift had backed her

into a corner causing her to feel threatened by him, the suit states.

Patrolman Haas then arrested Mr Swift on a charge of disorderly conduct but

made no effort to get Swift's gun from Swift's truck, according to the suit.

Patrolman Bahamonde remained behind to take a statement from Ms Czap who told

him she felt threatened, but Patrolman Bahamonde made no effort to secure Mr

Swift's gun, the suit adds.

Despite having a warrant for Mr Swift's arrest on charges arising from the

October 23, 1993, incident, the police didn's serve that warrant on him when

they arrested him on November 19, 1993, the suit alleges.

On November, 22, 1993, Mr Swift was arraigned in court on the charges lodged

against him on November 19, 1993. After the arraignment, he also was arrested

on the charges stemming from the October 23 incident, according to the suit.

On November 22, 1993, Ms Czap applied for a restraining order against Mr Swift

because she feared for her safety. The court issued the restraining order on

November 23, according to the suit.

"On November 25, 1993, at approximately 1:14 am, Christine Czap made a 911

call to the Newtown Police Department, screaming `Don't shoot me' to Swift and

begging the police to come to 126 South Main Street. When the police arrived

at 126 South Main Street some time later, Czap was dead, killed by bullets

fired by Michael Swift from his Ruger semi-automatic pistol. Christine Czap's

death was due to the negligence and carelessness of the defendants Haas and

Bahamonde, which negligence was a substantial factor in causing her death...'"

the lawsuit states.

The town has a December 5 answer date in court to respond to the charges made

in the lawsuit.