May 18--A Stamford police officer was critically injured after falling 20 feet from a bridge abutment while chasing a robbery suspect in Norwalk early Thursday morning, police said.
Troy Strauser, a 39-year-old patrol officer from Fairfield is "lucky to be alive," after being treated at Norwalk Hospital for several critical injuries, Chief Robert Nivakoff said.
Nivakoff said Strauser was in critical condition in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit after undergoing emergency surgery. The officer, a married father of three, has severe injuries to his face and right arm.
Strauser was chasing two suspects Thursday in a white BMW northbound on Interstate 95 after receiving a robbery call from the corner of West Main Street and Diaz Street at about 1:05 a.m., Assistant Chief Jim Matheny said.
The suspects crashed the car at exit 14 and Fairfield Avenue in Norwalk, and Strauser chased after at least one suspect who fled on foot toward Connecticut Avenue across the Fairfield Avenue bridge over I-95. At the other side of the bridge, the suspect made a sharp left turn and ran across the bridge abutment to the level of the highway below. But because of some underbrush, Strauser didn't see the drop while running full speed toward the suspect, police said. He landed face-down 20 feet below on a guardrail and the pavement at the edge of the highway, Matheny said. Strauser, who has been a member of the Stamford police force for the past six years, was immediately transported by police to Norwalk Hospital.
"When I got to the hospital this morning and the doctor said he was going to do everything he could to save him, I knew he was going to have a very hard time," Nivakoff said.
At a news conference outside the Norwalk Hospital emergency room, Sgt. Joseph Kennedy, the president of the city's police union, said that when he talked to Strauser briefly after he was brought to the hospital, the younger officer expressed concern for his wife and kids.
"He is a real nice kid," Kennedy said of Strauser. "He is a private kid who came to work every day and did his job."
Keith Anderson, a Fairfield neighbor of Strauser, said he wasn't surprised Strauser had bravely chased the suspect.
"He gives 110 percent to everything he does," said Anderson.
Anderson said he often sees Strauser out in the yard playing ball with his children.
"He's a very big family man, always out with the kids. I know he works the midnight shift, but when the kids get out of school, he's out there playing ball with them in the yard," said Anderson. "He's just a good guy."
Strauser's family made headlines in 2009, when Troy and his wife Torey were stuck in traffic on I-95 while Torey was in labor with the couple's third child.
Using his lights and siren, a trooper cut a path through traffic and allowed the Strausers to drive to Stamford Hospital in time for Torey to give birth to an 8-pound, 7-ounce baby girl, Strauser told Hearst Connecticut Newspapers.
Thursday's chase began when an early morning robbery call reported that two men were beating another and taking his wallet near West Main and Diaz streets, Matheny said. The two were reported to have fled in a white BMW.
While the robbery victim was being transported to Stamford Hospital, a white BMW was reported traveling on West Main Street, Matheny said. The vehicle got onto I-95 and got off at exit 9, where spike strips laid down moments before by Stamford officers punctured two of the car's tires, police said. While being pursued by Stamford police, the BMW then headed east and drove through Darien, getting back onto I-95 at exit 11
Near the end of the exit 14 ramp, it crashed and at least one suspect jumped out of the car and fled across the Fairfield Avenue bridge, Matheny said.
One of the two suspects involved in the chase -- 30-year-old Frank Douglas, of Norwalk -- was apprehended by police after he reportedly choked a Stamford police dog. Nivakoff said the dog, named Cooper, wasn't seriously injured.
Douglas, of 43 Lincoln Ave., was charged with second-degree robbery, engaging police in pursuit, interfering with police and cruelty to animals. He is being held on $500,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Friday at state Superior Court in Stamford.
According to court records, Douglas has been convicted of numerous drug charges in Bridgeport and Norwalk beginning in 1998. In 2006, he was sentenced to a year in jail for a sale of a controlled substance.
Last September, he appeared in court in Norwalk, where he was given nolles for numerous drug charges.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call the Stamford Police Major Crimes Unit at 203-977-4417.
WTNH's Ali Reed contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 - The Stamford Advocate, Conn.
