CT man arrested for allegedly threatening to shoot state police

A Windham man has been accused of threatening state police, telling a dispatcher that police would be shot if they came to his property and threatened him.

Louis Santo, 48, was arrested Sunday after officers from the Norwich Police Department came into contact with him and discovered he had a warrant for his arrest, according to Connecticut State Police. He was taken to state police Troop K in Colchester where he was charged with first-degree threatening and second-degree threatening, state police said.

Santo was released on a $50,000 bond and is expected to be arraigned in Middletown Superior Court on Sept. 12.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Santo called the state police headquarters in Middletown on Aug. 8 and made claims to the dispatcher that a trooper who had responded to his home days earlier lied in his incident report to protect a drug dealer. During the call, Santo said he has three friends who have diplomatic immunity “from overseas,” the affidavit said.

“If a cop comes to my house and threatens my life they are going to get shot,” Santo told the dispatcher, according to the affidavit.

“And there is not going to be anything you are going to be able to do about it,” he continued, state police wrote in the affidavit. “They are there. They’re going to protect me. They have firearms. They have diplomatic immunity cards and the only thing you are going to be able to do to them is deport them back to their country and they will send somebody else. You are going to have a serious, serious problem very soon.”

The incident days earlier, on Aug. 4, involved Santo and another man over a pack of cigarettes Santo said was stolen from his home by a third person, the affidavit said. During a confrontation over the cigarettes, Santo alleged he was struck by a man’s car, but the man alleged to troopers Santo had assaulted him while he was sitting in the vehicle. The man also told state police he hit the gas as he was being attacked and struck a bush, the affidavit said.

Troopers wrote in the affidavit that no action was taken because neither complainant could provide any evidence to support their version of events.

State police also noted in the affidavit that they have responded to Santo’s home eight times and that he has called Troop K 74 times this year.

State police said in the affidavit that Santo also emailed the trooper he alleged was corrupt 10 times between Aug. 16 and last Tuesday, calling him a fraud and alleging he falsified documents and made money off a drug dealer.

Troopers noted in the affidavit that Santo allegedly has a history of making threats toward state police personnel, as he allegedly threatened in April to “bar-b-que” a police K-9. He was not charged in that incident, state police said.