Danbury, Fairfield County | featured news

Heavy traffic delays are being reported on Interstate 84 westbound near Southbury.

According to motorists and state transportation officials, traffic is backed up more than five miles on Interstate 84 westbound between exits 14 and 16. Police said there are no accidents in the area that may have caused the traffic, but drivers reported that there was a disabled tractor trailer truck near exit 14 that may have added to the delays.

Police were also in the process of clearing a minor three car accident near exit 2 that occurred earlier this morning.

Police said they found the suspect, Jaime Lopez-Contreras, 39, of Stillwater Avenue, standing in front of a convenience store on nearby Smith Street.

Lopez-Contreras was charged with carrying a dangerous weapon, interfering with an officer, second-degree threatening and second-degree breach of peace.

New Fairfield- Squantz Pond State Park closed for new vehicles Sunday morning, according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Twitter account. The park in New Fairfield filled to its 250-car capacity around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday. It closed around 10 a.m. on Saturday. First Selectman Susan Chapman has called for a ban on walk-ins to Squantz Pond, citing safety concerns. The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is considering the ban, but it would not go into effect until next year.

Newtown police are searching for a man suspected of burglarizing five Sandy Hook homes Thursday and Friday.

Police released a video and photo of the suspect captured on a surveillance camera inside one of the homes.

The man is described by police as a bald white male who was wearing a white baseball cap with blue on the edge of the brim. Police said he wore a white, blue and gray striped shirt and khaki shorts.

Anyone with information about the suspect should call Newtown Police at 203-426-5841.

According to the Water Witch Hose Co. #2 Facebook page, The company was hard at work last night in the Lovers Leap State Park where a brush fire was reported around 11 p.m. First due crews were met by a rapidly spreading brush fire which had already consumed two acres due to the extreme dry conditions.

An aggressive attack was made into the remote and steep terrain accompanied by man power from Northville and Gaylordsville Fire Departments.

NEW MILFORD — Two veterans were wrapped in the community’s love and support as hand-made Quilts of Valor were draped around their shoulders Friday morning at the senior center. When I was wounded and recovering, I had times when I had to wrap myself in a quilt because it was painful to wear clothes. Quilts of Valor is a national nonprofit organization started in Delaware by Catherine Roberts, the mother of a soldier serving in Iraq. The quilts are designed to be the civilian equivalent of a Purple Heart and serve as a symbol of comfort and healing for those affected by war.

According to police, at least three vehicles were broken into during the past week, two in the Parks and Recreation Department parking lot located at 195 Danbury Road and another theft from a vehicle at the Scalzo Field parking area off Propect Ridge Road.

DANBURY — A former civil rights activist has been charged in South Dakota with murdering a Danbury woman he once represented in disputes with local housing officials.

Wright, who had suffered a heart attack earlier and used a walker and crutch to get around, told the News-Times in 2009 that she had received a series of eviction letters after putting her rent in an escrow account during a dispute over a mold problem in her apartment.

Wright and Duncan met with senior federal housing officials and with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, then serving as the state attorney general.

DANBURY — A Superior Court judge has withdrawn a plea deal offered to a New York man who was charged with attempted murder last fall after a shooting outside a School Ridge Road apartment.

Chadee-Sierra faces several charges including first-degree assault and risk of injury to a child, in addition to attempted murder, as a result of the Oct. 29 shooting.

Witnesses told police that Chadee-Sierra was upset that his friend’s 17-year-old girlfriend, who lives in the apartment, was lying about her past with Pena, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

According to police, members of the city’s Special Investigations Division, along with FBI agents and Brookfield police officers, took Ramon Monroig, 39, of Old Turnpike Road, into custody on July 19.

Police said searches of his car and two homes in Danbury and Brookfield turned up substantial quantities of marijuana and cocaine as well as a pistol, an assault rifle with high-capacity magazines and ammunition for both weapons.