Police commissioner asked to resign

EAST HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- Two months after he was arrested for allegedly threatening a 14-year-old boy, an East Haven police commissioner has been asked to step down.

East Haven police commissioner Carl Perez turned himself into police on Feb. 29 after a parent filed a complaint concerning an alleged encounter between Perez and her 14-year-old son. Perez works as a suspension officer at East Haven High School.

On Thursday, April 19, East Haven's Mayor Joe Maturo sent Perez a letter requesting is resignation from the Board of Police Commissioners, a five-member board.

• Click here to read the full letter.

"It is a conflict of interest for you to serve as a Police Commissioner during the pendency of your criminal action," Maturo wrote. "Continuing to serve would require you to make unbiased decisions about the very department which called for and effectuated your recent arrest. This fact, inherently, raises a conflict."

Maturo alluded to the arrest of four East Haven Police officers following an investigation into civil rights violations. "It is imperative, in light of the challenges presented by recent events, that we take appropriate action to preserve the integrity of the Police Commission," Maturo wrote.