Fairfield County | featured news

STAMFORD — For decades, heroin dealers have been branding the translucent glassine envelopes they send out to the streets — as a marketing gimmick, a commentary on current events, or sometimes both.

Bags stamped WMD — weapons of mass destruction — were popular during the Iraq War. Blue Thunder heroin hit the streets in the early 1980s, right after the cop movie of the same name premiered in the theaters.

The stamps were a way for customers to identify a particular product in the unregulated, Wild West world of street-corner drug sales.

SOUTHBURY — A tractor trailer burst into flames and shut down both sides of the I-84 in Southbury early Saturday morning after an accident with another tractor trailer, according to police.

The accident occurred just before 5 a.m.

SOUTHBURY — A tractor trailer burst into flames and shut down both sides of the I-84 in Southbury early Saturday morning after an accident with another tractor trailer, according to police.

The accident occurred just before 5 a.m. Saturday when two tractor trailers collided just past Exit 16, headed eastbound on I-84 in Southbury.

There were only minor injuries reported in the accident, according to Connecticut State Police Troop A.

Both lanes on the eastbound and westbound areas of the highway between Exit 16 and 17 were shut down as of 5:20 a.m.

STAMFORD — Charter Communications has bought at a deep discount the distressed loan for the downtown building that houses its headquarters, a move that could lead to litigation by its landlord, which is also the note’s borrower. The telecommunications giant acquired the loan for $100 million, representing about 40 percent of the $265 million principal originated in 2007. The deal does not change Charter’s plans to move its main offices in two years to a new building at 406 Washington Blvd., company officials said Thursday.

DANBURY - A local man was killed Thursday after a three-car accident along Interstate 684 in New York.

Authorities from New York said the accident occurred during the early morning hours when a commercial dump truck entered the northbound lane of the highway from the median. A car driven by Jon Slater, 54, rear-ended the dump truck and was then pushed into an adjoining lane where he hit another car.

Slater was pronounced dead at the scene, police said, adding that the accident remains under investigation.

STAMFORD - On Saturday, the Stamford police department will be holding a gun buyback event trading gift cards for unwanted firearms.

Anyone wishing to drop off a gun is asked to walk into police headquarters without the weapon and speak to the desk sargent, who will find someone to retrieve the firearm.

Officer Joseph Steyer said $100 will be paid for rifles or shotguns, $125 for handguns and $150 for assault weapons.

The guns must be operable to receive gift cards from Visa, Shop Rite or Target, Steyer said. The event will run from 10 a.m.

STAMFORD — A candidate who ran for the Board of Representatives has filed a complaint against city election officials questioning whether they followed the rules for tallying ballots in a close race that nearly triggered a recount.

Democrat Chris Woodside, a 23-year-old teacher who sought a seat in the 18th District, said the vote tally in his race changed after Election Day, putting him just over the margin for a mandatory recount. In a three-way race for two seats, Woodside lost to Republicans Charles Pia Jr. and J.R.

STAMFORD — City police said a 7-year-old boy was hit by a motor vehicle at about 8:20 Wednesday morning as he was walking to school.

The child, police said, walking by himself in a crosswalk at Willowbrook Avenue and Hale Street when he was struck by a vehicle making a left turn. The driver was still at the scene when police arrived and was cited for failure to yield right of way to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

The boy was treated at the scene for a graze mark on his head and taken to Stamford Hospital as a precaution, police said.

kat.russell@stamfordadvocate.com

STAMFORD — A motorcyclist accused of fleeing an accident was arrested this week after police say he called a friend for a ride while on the run from officers.

Police Sgt. Jennifer Pinto said Bartosz Kurpiecki, 27, of Stamford, ran away after hitting the back of a minivan with his motorcycle in the 200 block of Long Ridge Road about 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Witnesses told officers they saw Kurpiecki jump out of some bushes and get into a BMW on Long Ridge Road, Pinto said.

Pinto said the BMW belonged to an acquaintance of Kurpiecki.

STAMFORD — A damning text message sent just before a city man allegedly nearly hacked another man’s hand off with a saw in a jealous fit of rage over two years ago played a central role in closing arguments of a trial at the Stamford courthouse.

Arguments made to the six person jury early Tuesday afternoon ended the week-long trial of Cesar Olivero, who is facing up to 50 years in jail after being accused of first-degree assault, burglary and home invasion in a bloody late night assault that took place in a Camp Avenue condominium complex on June 25, 2015.