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Officer on Workers' Comp Caught Running in Drag

Officer Garrett Dalton was caught on video running in a local radio competition. (Photo courtesy: WTNH)

NEW HAVEN, CT — A state correction officer who was collecting workers’ compensation because of a back injury has been suspended from his job and arrested after news photographers captured him competing in a radio-sponsored 40-yard dash in high heels.

Garrett A. Dalton, 41, of Naugatuck, was arrested Monday and charged with one count of workers’ compensation fraud by the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office and Workers’ Compensation Fraud Control Bureau. He was released on a written promise to appear in New Haven Superior Court on April 8.

Workers’ compensation fraud is a felony, and Dalton faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Dalton was out of work after injuring his back on June 11, 2007, while lifting a box of toilet paper and soap at the New Haven Correctional Center. He collected $5,227 in benefits up until Nov. 14, 2007, when he returned to work.

On Oct. 17, 2007, while out of work because of the injury, Dalton allegedly took part in a contest by WPLR FM radio station in New Haven.

In the contest, he ran a 40-yard dash in a woman’s dress and high heels in hopes of winning tickets to a Hannah Montana concert. He was filmed by a television news team from WTNH with other contestants wearing women’s clothing and heels while carrying an egg on a spoon. Dalton did not win the race, but was discovered when a supervisor saw his photo in a newspaper.

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