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Crime & Safety

Car Set On Fire At Police Officer's Norwalk Home

"We're surprised and obviously concerned" -- Deputy Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik

Police are searching for a motive behind someone setting a car on fire Saturday night while it was parked in the driveway of a police officer’s Norwalk home.

Police have been extremely reluctant to provide information about the incident, but in a meeting with reporters Monday morning, Deputy Chief Thomas Kulhalwik released a few details of what occurred.

The fire was reported at 8:54 p.m. A rag had been stuck in the car’s fuel pipe and set on fire.

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A patrol officer who heard the fire call broadcast stopped in front of the officer’s home and used a fire extinguisher to put out most of the fire. A fire engine then arrived and fully extinguished it.

There were no injuries.

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The car, a 2001 Chevrolet Malibu, belongs to the officer’s girlfriend.

The officer is black, and Kulhawik said there had been a previous incident of vandalism at his home where someone scratched a racial epithet on his car.

The officer has lived in the neighborhood many years. Kulhawik said there are other black families living there and there have been no reports from them of racial threats or crimes.

The officer has been a member of the police department since March 1988.

The four reporters who attended the meeting agreed to Kulhawik’s request that neither the officer’s name nor address be published.

“We’re surprised and obviously concerned,” he said.

The incident is being investigated by detectives and the Fire Marshall’s office. A call to Fire Marshall Glenn Iannacone office was not immediately returned.

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