Meriden City Council members will hold a special meeting on Monday to discuss a recent “police incident” involving city manager Tim Coon — who took a leave of absence earlier this year following a DUI arrest in April.
“City leadership and the city council are aware of a police incident involving the city manager and are currently gathering pertinent information for its special meeting,” Meriden City Council majority leader Sonya R. Jelks and minority leader Dan Brunet said in a joint statement issued Thursday.
Jelks and Brunet said Meriden Police Chief Roberto Rosado will serve as acting city manager until the meeting.
City officials did not elaborate on the nature of the incident involving Coon. Meriden police on Friday did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
“The city will have no further comment as this is a pending matter,” Tony Terzi, strategic communications specialist for the City of Meriden, said in a release on Thursday.
Coon did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Coon was on leave earlier this year following an arrest on April 26 when Connecticut State Police said he was driving north on the southbound side of Route 3 in East Hartford at about 1:50 a.m. As troopers were responding to the area, they learned Coon had entered the Route 2 off-ramp and left the road as he was negotiating a curve before striking a stump.
State police said the car rolled over and came to rest in the median. Coon, who did not report any injuries, failed multiple field sobriety tests and was arrested on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, failure to drive in the proper lane and driving the wrong way on a divided highway, according to state police.
Days after the accident, the Meriden City Council discussed the DUI arrest during an executive session at its regularly scheduled meeting and voted to allow Coon to keep his job with the stipulation that he complete treatment through the city’s Employee Assistance Program.
Coon’s DUI case still appears on the Connecticut Judicial Branch website and has been statutorily sealed from the public since he was granted a pretrial diversionary program in July. The case has been marked down for a possible dismissal date next July.
