[R]UTLAND — Attorneys for a city firefighter who is facing criminal charges for the second time in several months say their client is still dealing with the emotional aftereffects of a kidney transplant.
“It’s never been mentioned what an emotional toll getting an organ transplant must have on a person,” attorney Sabina Smiechowski said of Brent M. Garrow, 31, outside a courtroom Monday where he was arraigned on charges of DUI and leaving the scene of a crash.
W. Tracy Carris, co-counsel in the case, echoed Smiechowski’s comments, adding that his client had to deal with thoughts of his own mortality at a young age.
The community had rallied around Garrow as he dealt with his health problems. The search for an acceptable kidney donor reached a point where his mother posted an appeal on Facebook on her son’s behalf.
That appeal led a local woman, Summer Stoutes, who had never met Garrow, to step forward and donate one of her kidneys after it was found to be a match.
“I don’t think this kidney transplant … the effect it has had on him emotionally and otherwise has been taken into account,” Carris said Monday. “Imagine at the age of 29 you think you’re going to pass away.”
Garrow returned to work at the city Fire Department in April after 18 months away dealing with his health problems.
He was arraigned Monday in Rutland Superior Court on charges that he drove drunk at twice the legal limit and left the scene of a crash early Thanksgiving morning.
He pleaded not guilty and was released on conditions.
In August, Garrow pleaded not guilty to a charge of impersonating a police officer. A Vermont State Police trooper said he pulled Garrow over for speeding and Garrow told him he worked for the Pittsford Police Department.
Trooper Jonathan Hall then let Garrow go with a warning. Later, the trooper said, he learned that Garrow had been decertified as a police officer more than a year earlier.
Garrow was suspended from his job as a city firefighter after that August arraignment.
After court Monday, Smiechowski said she did not yet have enough information to discuss the latest charges but called the earlier impersonating an police officer charge “baseless.”
She said it wasn’t until after Garrow was arraigned on that charge that he was formally terminated by the Pittsford Police Department.
Pittsford Police Chief Mike Warfle said Monday that it is true Garrow was fired on the day of that arraignment. He referred questions to Pittsford Town Manager John Haverstock, who the police chief said does the hiring and firing of town employees.
Haverstock could not immediately be reached for comment.
Garrow did lose his certification to be a police officer in June 2016 for failing to keep up with training requirements, according to court records.
The latest charges allege that early on the morning of Nov. 23 two city police officers on foot patrol saw Garrow outside a bar, waving his arms and acting intoxicated.
Shortly after, the officers saw a 1994 Cadillac Fleetwood limousine parked near an intersection with Garrow behind the wheel and three or four people getting in, Sgt. Adam Lucia wrote in an affidavit.
Garrow then drove off, squealing the tires and blowing through a flashing red light, the affidavit stated.
He was found in the parking lot of Clifford’s Funeral Home on Washington Street. Garrow was in the backseat of his father’s car, with his father telling an officer that his son had called him for a ride, Lucia wrote.
Garrow told police he’d had two drinks, the last being about three hours earlier, according to the affidavit. Garrow also told police he drove the limo “from here to there” and called his father because he “could not drive this automobile any farther,” the affidavit stated.
A roadside breath test showed Garrow had a blood-alcohol content of 0.164 percent, more than twice the 0.08 legal limit for driving in Vermont, Lucia wrote. A second test later at the police station showed a level of 0.166 percent, the affidavit stated.
Lucia wrote that he found a vehicle near the funeral home with severe rear-end damage. Officers back at the funeral home saw vehicle “debris” and found the limousine inside a garage, also with severe damage, the affidavit stated.
The limousine belonged to the funeral home, where Garrow worked part time.
A witness told police he heard a loud crash in the area and saw an older model limousine “sparking down the road” before pulling over where about “six kids” jumped out and took off.
Later, a woman reported that her vehicle, a 2007 Cadillac CTS that had been parked in the funeral home’s parking lot, had also been hit and received minor damage, Lucia wrote.
In court Monday, Deputy Rutland County State’s Attorney Megan Wilson asked the judge to prohibit Garrow from driving, as a condition of his release. But Judge Samuel Hoar allowed him to drive as long as his license remains valid.
Garrow also must give the court proof that he is seeing a licensed alcohol counselor.
The city denied a public records request seeking any dashcam video or audio of Garrow’s arrest, citing an exemption for records related to the detection and investigation of crime.
Garrow’s return to work in April also was not without controversy.
Shortly before Town Meeting Day in March and in the midst of a heated mayoral campaign, a post on his Facebook page alleged that the city wouldn’t allow him to return to work despite being cleared by a physician.
Then-Mayor Christopher Louras posted online a response in a letter addressed to Garrow, denying his allegations.
Bad blood between Louras and firefighters was cited by many as a factor in Louras’ defeat in the mayoral race, in addition to his support of a plan to resettle refugees from Syria and Iraq in the city.
David Allaire, then a veteran member of the city’s Board of Aldermen, won the backing of the firefighters union and went on to win the mayoral election.
