Ct. Police Department Trying to Do Right, Terminates Cop Involved in Beating That State’s Attorney Refused to Handle

In late July police officers in Enfield, Ct.

wanted to arrest one of their own, Matthew Worden, and charge
him with assault and fabricating evidence related to his beating a
man, Mark Maher, he claimed was resisting arrest (on charges
eventually dropped). Although the incident was caught on dashcam,
the state’s attorney rejected the department’s request for an
arrest warrant against Worden because the video was “extremely
difficult to keep up with.” You can watch the video
here.

Neverthleess, the police investigation into the incident, at the
town’s April boat launch, continued, and last week Worden was
fired.
The Hartford Courant reports:

“The police department conducted a very fair, thorough,
exhaustive investigation and we believe the proper conclusion – the
termination of Officer Worden – has been reached in this case,”
Sferrazza said.

The chief said the internal affairs report was reviewed by two
captains and Deputy Chief Gary Collins who all agreed that Worden
should be fired. Sferrazza said he also agreed that Worden needed
to be fired for his actions on April 1.

Sferrazza said that he doesn’t want Worden’s actions to taint
the entire department.

“We have 99 sworn police officers who responded to 50,000 calls
last year alone and we have had only 16 citizens complaints in the
past three years,” Sferrazza said. “I would ask that residents of
the community not allow this unprecedented incident to overshadow
the fine work done by the men and women of our department.”

Worden had been the
target of 14 complaints in the last seven years, and has one
more investigation pending. The city of Enfield has recieved eight
notices of intent to sue based on accusations against the cop.
Worden can appeal the decision to a labor board, according to
Sferraza, who confirmed to us that as far as the department was
concerned Worden was terminated.

Two other cops were
suspended for their role in the incident, helping Worden. One
of them signed a “last chance” agreement that means he’ll be fired
and forfeit his right to appeal termination if an internal
investigation upholds another claim of police brutality against him
in the next five years.