STATE ABANDONS DRUG CASE AGAINST TORRINGTON COUPLE

BANTAM - The state dropped drug charges Wednesday against a Torrington
couple allegedly caught with crack cocaine in March.

Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney Andrew Wittstein told Judge
Robert Brunetti that the state's case against Christopher and Carmen
Ostrander, 183 Riverside Ave., would probably not survive a motion to
suppress. Wittstein said his office would not prosecute the cases.

The Ostrander's attorneys, James Longwell and James McCarthy, intended
to file a motion to suppress because they believed the police had no
reason to stop or search the car that the couple was driving March
5.

"This doesn't happen often," said Carman Ostrander's attorney, James
Longwell. "The Fourth Amendment has been so gutted it's hard to find a
case like this."

The Ostranders were being watched by narcotics officers from the
Torrington Police Department on March 5 when they left the parking lot
of Stop & Shop on High Street in Torrington at 7:43 p.m. They were
also followed to Waterbury and back when police pulled up behind them
in an unmarked car at the Patco store on Church Street, according to
the police report. Police allegedly found 1.2 grams of crack cocaine
worth about $70 in a medicine bottle and a homemade pipe with residue.

Both were charged with possession of narcotics and Carman Ostrander
also faced a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. The charges
carry penalties up to seven years in jail.

Police said they were interested in the 1992 Buick LeSabre the couple
was driving because it was frequently driven by another man, Daniel
Poetzch, who is suspected of committing other drug-related crimes.
When the Ostranders got out of the car, police questioned them about
what they were up to.

"There was no motor vehicle stop or violation. They got out of the car
on their own," Longwell said. "They were on the police department's
radar when they shouldn't have been."

The Ostranders were happy with the resolution, Longwell said, and he
doesn't expect they will return to court.

"They were grateful," he said.