Trumbull Woman Charges Trumbull Cops with False Arrest

A Trumbull woman is suing police over her Feb. 9, 2011, and June 2010 arrests by Trumbull police.

The plaintiff, Virginia Silano, said both incidents were reported on the Connecticut Judicial Branch Website and in the Trumbull Times, damaging her reputation.

A police spokesman declined to comment on the suit.

Silano, of West Lake Road, a paralegal for more than 23 years, said in the suit that she reported a man looking into her windows on Jan. 10, 2011.

Trumbull Officer Daniel Wheeler allegedly "presented himself as unstable, annoyed and biased in that he began to roll his eyes and shake his head as the plaintiff explained what had happened."

He also "made motions with his mouth to mock, intimidate and discourage the plaintiff to continue her complaint."

Wheeler recorded the interview, according to the suit.

Silano, "as a result of ... extreme fear and anxiety" caused by the underlying incident and the officer's alleged actions, then told Wheeler she would shoot the man if he entered her home, the suit states..

Silano added that she never told the man directly.

But the officer went to the man and repeated the statement, and asked him to make a statement if he wanted to press charges, according to Silano. The officer then applied for a warrant based on that statement and arrested her for second-degree threatening.

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The case went to trial before a judge and she was not convicted. Silano, however, seeks more than $15,000 in damages for legal fees, and because she was "embarrassed, humiliated and held up to scorn in the legal industry," also hurting her chances for finding work.

Second Arrest

Silano was also arrested following a Jan. 25, 2010, incident with the same man. In the suit, she said she was charged with criminal mischief for allegedly damaging the man's car.

But Silano said the man deliberately hit her with his car and she accused responding Officer Wheeler (the same in the January 2011 incident) of ignoring eyewitness testimony backing her story. Wheeler failed to arrest the man, she alleged.

A resulting citizen complaint she filed against Wheeler was dismissed.

Silano is also facing several unrelated criminal charges from 2011 and 2012. She was arrested June 29, 2010, charged with violating conditions of release; Nov. 5, 2011, reckless driving; Oct. 13, 2011, filing a false report of child abuse and second-degree harassment; and Nov. 23, 2011, second-degree harassment.

She was also recently arrested for allegedly violating conditions of release.

Her next court date is Feb. 5 in Bridgeport Superior Court.