The Greenwich police officer arrested Monday and charged with stalking a town woman allegedly harassed her for nearly a year, according to an affidavit filed in State Superior Court.
A 32-year-old woman filed a complaint against Officer Donnell Fludd on Nov. 6, stating that she had tried unsuccessfully to end her relationship with him since December 2010, and had since suffered repeated incidents of harassment, according to the affidavit.
The department subsequently launched an internal affairs investigation into the complaint, according to the affidavit. Fludd, 43, is charged with second-degree stalking, second-degree harassment and disorderly conduct, all of which are misdemeanors.
In the 19-page document, the woman described various ways in which Fludd allegedly continued to contact, stalk and harass her, despite her phone calls, face-to-face meetings, emails and text messages telling him to stop.
The woman told police there were "several instances where Fludd used his position as a police officer; his large size; and his knowledge of firearms to intimidate her," according to the affidavit.
The woman described receiving bogus parking tickets, gave police photographs of an injury she claimed to have sustained during an incident with Fludd in her apartment building elevator, and told police Fludd pulled out his personal gun on one occasion while they were talking in his personal vehicle.
During the course of the investigation, police interviewed Fludd, who acknowledged that he had a relationship with the woman, but said that he never put a hand on her, tried to intimidate her, or took his gun out in front of her in a threatening manner.
He also denied many of the woman's other allegations.
In her complaint, which stemmed from a Nov. 6 incident, the woman told police Fludd entered the Riverside store where she worked and refused to leave her alone. Later that evening, Fludd was waiting for her in the store parking lot at the end of her shift and tried to prevent her from leaving by holding open the door to her car, she said. The woman, who was able to leave the scene, told police she noticed Fludd following her a short time later on Interstate 95 and "became very scared," according to the affidavit. She drove to the intersection of Greenwich Avenue and Havemeyer Place, a short distance from the police department, and Fludd then pulled onto Havemeyer Place and parked his car so he could watch her, she said.
In the ensuing investigation, the woman told police that, on "numerous occasions," Fludd stopped her in her car while he was driving a police vehicle, but on each occasion he did not issue her a ticket, according to the affidavit.
Fludd sent messages to the woman from an account associated with the Greenwich Flag Football League, according to the affidavit. Fludd, a former All-American tight end with West Virginia Wesleyan College, coached in the youth league, which he co-founded in 2006.
In a response to one of those emails, dated Oct. 18, 2011, the woman stated, "It's October 18, 2011 and the next time you hear from me is when you will sign paperwork with my name on it from your job stating to leave [the woman's name] along [sic] and don't come around her. You are threatening my space. I will not pick up a call from you, reply to a text message from you."
The woman told police she met Fludd through the Greenwich Flag Football League, for which she volunteered. Fludd began to pay her for her work with the league, and he tried to get her to accept more and more money, she said. At one point, he gave her $3,000 of the league's money to open a personal account, but she refused and returned the money, she said.
The woman told police that Fludd often touched her inappropriately despite her protests, and that she had been afraid to come to the police because Fludd had told her that "he was the police and that he would not get in trouble," according to the affidavit.
Police interviewed five of the woman's family members during the investigation, according to the affidavit.
In a December 2011 interview, Fludd told police he and the woman had gone back and forth on their relationship and that, at times, she had expressed a desire to end it, according to the affidavit.
Fludd said he had employed her at the flag football league and she had bargained with him to pay her $3,000, according to the affidavit. Fludd told police he gave her $3,000 in cash for future work and that she gave him back a $3,000 check, according to the affidavit.
When asked if he had ever pulled her over in a police car while he was working, Fludd said, "No. Never. Like in a car stop? Never ever," according to the affidavit.
Fludd denied issuing her any parking tickets. When shown a copy of a town parking ticket, issued to her car at her residence on a day and time that he was working in the area, he said he had no recollection of that, according to the affidavit.
Fludd said he had no recollection of an alleged December 2010 incident, in which the woman said Fludd followed her to work, according to the document. He also denied the alleged elevator episode.
Fludd acknowledged following her in his car Nov. 6 but said it was because he thought she was upset and he was concerned about her well-being.
A state Superior Court judge in Stamford issued a protective order Tuesday mandating that Fludd avoid all contact with the woman.
Fludd, who was sworn in as a Greenwich police officer in 2004, has been on administrative leave since the alleged victim came forward. Sgt. James Bonney, president of the Silver Shield Association, the police union, confirmed Tuesday that Fludd is on paid leave.
"I would hope everyone reserves judgment on him until the end of the proceedings," Bonney said.
Greenwich police have said they will not comment further on the details of the case. The internal affairs investigation is ongoing, police said.
Fludd, who was released on a promise to appear, was arraigned in state Superior Court in Stamford Tuesday, but did not enter pleas, according to court documents. His case was continued to March 27.
Fludd's attorney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
david.hennessey@scni.com; 203-625-4428