Crime & Safety

Police: Darien Custodian Failed Polygraph About Grabbing Teacher [UPDATE]

A 44-year-old school custodian and Darien resident grabbed an elementary school teacher where he worked, crushing her wrist and causing a hairline fracture, Darien police said.

Update 2:55 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 6:

Before charging a school custodian with breach of peace on an accusation he squeezed the hand of a teacher so hard that she received a hairline bone fracture, the custodian gave conflicting accounts of the incident, police said.

So Darien police gave the custodian, Robert Munro, 44, of Raymond Street, a polygraph examination.

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The examination was administered by the polygraph unit of Connecticut State Police, according to Capt. Frederick W. Komm, a spokesman for the Police Department and commander of the administrative and investigative services bureau. Komm said the examiner concluded that the polygraph indicated deception.

Polygraph examination results generally are not allowed in court cases.

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The Darien Times has reported that schools Superintendent Stephen Falcone has said Munro has resigned from his job as a custodian with the school district.

Update 3:00 p.m., Monday, Aug. 4:

Asked why the incident was not reported immediately to police, Darien Police Capt. Frederick W. Komm, a spokesman for the department, wrote in an emailed response:

"The victim did not report it right away and did not immediately seek medical attention. She proceeded to do so when the pain and discomfort increased and showed no sign of diminishing."

Asked why Robert Munro was not charged with assault, given the allegations against him, Komm said the Connecticut second-degree breach of peace statute includes the accusation that someone "assaults or strikes another."

Both second-degree breach of peace and the alternative of an assault charge are misdemeanors, and either charge could have been made, said Komm, commander of the Administrative and Investigative Services Bureau of the department.

Original article:

Darien police arrested a 44-year-old Raymond Street resident after a teacher at , where he was working as a custodian, said he grabbed her wrist and crushed it so hard that she needed medical assistance.

After the teacher went to a medical facility, she was told her wrist had sustained a hairline fracture of a bone.

gave this account of the incident and later arrest:

At about 9:10 a.m. on April 30, Robert Munro, 44, of 58 Raymond St., was talking with a teacher in the front foyer of the school.

The teacher said she must have said something that made him angry, because he grabbed her left wrist and started squeezing it so tightly that it became painful. She told him he was hurting her, but he responded by squeezing her hand even tighter before eventually letting go.

On May 15, the teacher complained to Darien police about the incident. Police did not say in a news release why the teacher waited two weeks to make the complaint.

Munro gave police a sworn, written statement that he had never touched the teacher, and there were no witnesses to the encounter. Police said they determined that Munro's account was false.

Police applied for and received an arrest warrant for Munro, charging him with providing a false statement to police and breach of peace. Although Munro is accused of causing a broken bone, he was not charged with assault.

Munro turned himself in at Darien police headquarters on Aug. 2 after he was informed about the arrest warrant. He was released on a written promise to appear Aug. 13 in state Superior Court in Stamford.

Editor's note: Sentences about Munro not being charged with assault and about the two-week period between the incident and the report to police have been added at 2:27 p.m. This article originally was published at 2:07 p.m. The time stamp has been changed for layout purposes on the Home page of Darien Patch.


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