A lawsuit was filed on Aug. 2, 2010 on behalf of Catherine Fergus, her three children, and elderly mother in Litchfield Superior Court suing the Town of New Milford.
A lawsuit was filed on Aug. 2, 2010 on behalf of Catherine Fergus, her three children, and elderly mother, in Litchfield Superior Court suing the Town of New Milford. The lawsuit, filed by Stratton Faxon Law Firm in New Haven, outlines details of negligence and recklessness on behalf of New Milford Police and in reference to a brutal event that nearly turned deadly last fall.
Stabbing victim Catherine Fergus had custody of her children on Nov. 14, 2009, when she made a complaint to police regarding her estranged husband, Neil Fergus. Fergus had placed several dozen harassing phone calls in a brief span of time to Catherine and was making physical threats. A protective order – issued earlier by Superior Court – was already in place, mandating that Neil Fergus refrain from harassment of any kind against his wife or family. Knowing that the police were previously made aware of Neil as a physical threat, Catherine placed a call to police to alert them to the situation.
Incredulously, instead of arresting Fergus for being in violation of a standing protective order, police contacted Neil Fergus directly, informing him of his wife’s complaints. Upon receiving this phone call, Neil Fergus went to the plaintiff’s home and savagely stabbed his wife in her car in front of their two sons. Catherine was injured in her back and right arm but managed to escape the car and run into the family’s home. Fergus chased her inside and threw his 71-year-old mother-in-law to the ground in his pursuit to kill Catherine. Police showed up at the house and finally arrested Neil Fergus before he could carry out his full intentions.
Fergus’s lawsuit accuses police of failing to immediately arrest her attacker and estranged husband and tipping him off to his impending arrest while providing no protection whatsoever to her or the involved family. “It is inconceivable that a trained police officer would call an insane man who had recently threatened his estranged wife and alert him that he was about to be arrested,” says Attorney Joel T. Faxon. “Barney Fife would know that the insane man’s next move would be to go attack the woman again. It’s shocking that the police response was so incompetent.”
Alexandra Reed writes for Connecticut personal injury law firm, Stratton Faxon. Contact Stratton Faxon to speak with a Connecticut accident lawyer about your personal injury, wrongful death, or Connecticut malpractice case. To learn more, visit Strattonfaxon.com.
