NAUGATUCK — A Naugatuck woman was met with a startling encounter at her front door last Friday morning, police said.
Naugatuck police spokesman Lt. Bryan Cammarata said Joseph Cullinan, 54, knocked on the front door of a home on Silver Ridge Road at about 8 a.m. March 6. A woman answered the door, he said, but couldn’t understand what Cullinan was saying or wanted. Cammarata said Cullinan kept knocking on the door and was yelling profanities. At one point, Cammarata said, Cullinan unbuckled his belt and began to open his pants in an attempt to expose himself.
The woman called police, but by the time officers arrived Cullinan had fled the scene in a car, Cammarata said. The woman provided police with a description of the car and the vehicle was located a short time later stuck in traffic on Church Street, Cammarata said.
Cammarata said Cullinan was intoxicated, though it wasn’t clear exactly what he was on. When officers were talking to Cullinan, Cammarata said, he told officers his name was “Joe Mama.”
After Cullinan was arrested, Cammarata said, borough police learned the car he was driving had been stolen from a driveway in Danbury a couple of hours earlier. Cammarata said the car’s owner left the car open and running with the keys in it to warm up.
Cammarata said borough police have had no previous interactions with Cullinan and it appears he choose the house on Silver Ridge Road at random. He said the homeowner didn’t know Cullinan.
Naugatuck police charged Cullinan, who listed his address as 334 Durgin Hill Road, Vershire, Vt., with breach of peace, engaging in pursuit, interfering with an officer, reckless driving and third-degree larceny. He was scheduled to appear in Waterbury Superior Court on March 6.
