Video: EH police lieutenant charged with DUI switched places with passenger in “elaborate attempt to avoid doing Field Sobriety Test.”

A routine stop in Somers by state police for driving under the influence of alcohol revealed an East Hartford police lieutenant and a retired East Hartford officer schemed to cover up the lieutenant’s operation of his motor vehicle. A police body camera, posted above, recorded the encounter with the lieutenant, the discovery of his cell phone on the ground behind the vehicle, his claim he was having a heart attack and the revelation that he is an East Hartford police officer.

Lieutenant Joseph Ficacelli admitted in Superior Court that in the early hours of January 28th he switched seats with his passenger. The switch was made when it appeared police would stop his vehicle after EMTs saw Ficacelli driving erratically, stopped his vehicle and asked if he was having a medical issue. Ficacelli, according to an April 5th court transcript, “was profane to them and used foul language at them.”

The EMTs followed Ficacelli. They saw him “go around to the back of the vehicle, then down to the ground, but then come around and get [into the passenger side] of the vehicle, and the vehicle proceeded,” State’s Attorney Matthew Gedansky told the court at the April 5th hearing in Superior Court in Rockville. The EMTs stayed “about a quarter of a mile back and watched all of this unfold.”

Police stopped the vehicle a short distance away. EMTs saw a cell phone on the ground behind where Ficacelli stopped and made the switch. It was the East Hartford lieutenant’s phone.

Less than a minute after police learned that Ficacelli had been driving the vehicle, he asked police to call an ambulance because “I feel like I’m having a heart attack.” A few minutes earlier, Robert Provonost, the other passenger/driver, had fallen to the ground when asked to step out of the vehicle by police. He also asked for an ambulance to take him to the hospital.

After an ambulance took Ficacelli from the scene, police discovered a locked box under the driver’s seat. It contained a pistol and Ficacelli’s police badge.

“Tell me what happened,” Judge Kathleen McNamara directed Ficacelli. “I’m interested in this because I’ve never seen such an elaborate attempt to avoid doing a Field Sobriety Test as what you undertook.”

Ficacelli responded that he was diagnosed with a heart condition as a child and there is a history of heart disease in his family. “So, every time I get a chest pain or an anxiety attack, I think the worst,” he said, “I go to a bad place where I think I’m having a heart attack and I’m checking out.” That fear did not preclude Ficacelli from arguing with police about their possession of his cell phone while they waited for the second ambulance to arrive, the video shows.

His symptoms of a heart attack appear to have quickly resolved. When police arrived at the hospital, according to Gedansky, “they heard Mr. Ficacelli yelling and screaming at nurses. Ficacelli is heard yelling that he refuses any EKG to be done on him.” Ficacelli disputed that assertion in court.

Judge McNamara, perplexed that someone who thinks they are having a heart attack would refuse treatment, postponed action on Ficacelli’s application for an alcohol diversionary program that, if successfully completed, would result in a dismissal of all charges and wipe it from his public record. She told Ficacelli, “I am just thoroughly appalled at your behavior. You should be ashamed of yourself.” She added, “You tarnished the badge of whatever department that is…You have a lot of authority but you have more responsibility to the public and to safe driving, and you tarnished that.”

The defendant told the court that East Hartford’s deputy chief is conducting its own investigation into the January 28th incident. Ficacelli continues to be paid and is assigned to what he described as “desk duty.” Ficacelli was East Hartford’s second highest paid employee last year, earning $187,203.

The matter was continued to June 5th.

This was not Ficacelli’s first encounter with police from another jurisdiction. Fox61 reported he questioned a Rocky Hill officer’s stop of him for speeding in 2022.

Published April 25, 2024.