Five months after she was arrested for a confrontation with a mom outside the controversial rear gate to the Hooker school, Anne Higonnet had her case dismissed Thursday.
To win the dismissal, Higonnet, a Barnard art history professor who lives in the East Rock neighborhood, voluntarily served 10 hours of community service and wrote a “letter of regret.”
Her case brought to the surface simmering tensions in the neighborhood over the rebuilding of Hooker School and the ability of students to enter the school on side streets.
Attorney Diane Polan, who represented the woman Higonnet allegedly confronted at the Hooker gate, expressed her dissatisfaction with the dismissal. Polan had previously agreed to a deal that would have had the case nolled, but not dismissed.
Melissa Bailey Photo
Neighbors and parents have been up in arms about the question of dropping children off on Everit Street rather than on the Whitney Avenue side of the new school. Some wanted the gate (pictured) closed, to prevent a flood of cars on the residential street. Others asked for it to remain open, to allow students to walk to school.
When the $36.5 million school building opened last December, officials opted to leave it open, but asked parents not to drop their kids off there.
A flashpoint in the dispute came on Jan. 15, when Higonnet was arrested for allegedly confronting Westville mom, Stephanie Brooks, who was dropping off her child at the Everitt Street gate.
According to a police report, Higonnet knocked on Brooks’ car window, then opened the car door while the car was moving, and grabbed the collar of Brooks’ coat. Brooks then put the car in park and got out. The two woman started shouting at each other, according to the report.
The yelling stopped when Officer Malcolm Davis arrived. Higonnet admitted she lost her temper and tried to shake hands with Brooks, who rebuffed her handshake and asked Davis to press charges. Police charged Higonnet with disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor offense.
Higonnet arrived in court two weeks later, where Brooks rejected mediation that could have settled the case. Since then, Higonnet has appeared in court multiple times, with her case repeatedly continued.
She appeared at the state courthouse on Elm Street for the last time on Thursday morning.
Following backroom negotiations between Polan and Timothy Pothin, Higgonet’s attorney, Judge Bruce Thompson called the case at 12:20 p.m.
Higonnet, a slender woman with grey hair and large glasses, stood between Pothin and Polan as the prosecutor, Assistant State’s Attorney John Doyle informed the judge of the facts of the case and the context of controversy surrounding the incident.
Higonnet’s husband,Yale economics professor John Geanakoplos, sat in the closest chair in the gallery, leaning forward to follow the hard-to-hear proceedings.
Brooks could not be in court because of a mandatory training at work, Polan said later.
Doyle told the judge that Higonnet had recently performed 10 hours of community service at a downtown soup kitched as part of a deal to have her case nolled. Polan later said that Higonnet also wrote a “letter of regret” to Brooks, which Polan received on Thursday.
Doyle made a point of mentioning that although school officials have asked parents not to drop children off on Everit Street, neither the school nor neighbors have statutory right to enforce that request. Parents are under no legal obligation to abide by the request, he said.
Doyle asked the judge to nolle the case. A nolle, or “nolle prosequi,” means the state is declining to prosecute the case, which is dismissed after 13 months. Charges can be brought again within the 13 months.
Pothin moved for the immediate dismissal of the case.
Higonnet has “gone beyond cooperation” with the court, Pothin said. She has been coming to court for months, he said. “She’s a good citizen” and “welcomes that school in the neighborhood,” he said.
Polan objected to the dismissal motion because of the nature of the incident. She said her client had been driving with two young children. Higonnet opened the car door while the car was moving, she said.
In the gallery, Higonnet’s husband shook his head and rolled his eyes.
Polan said her client had asked that as a condition of the nolle, Higonnet not approach any parents or children near the Everit Street gate. That condition was rejected, Polan said. She asked the judge not to dismiss the case.
The state is not going to prosecute the case because the facts of the case are disputed, Pothin replied. The case should therefore be dismissed, he said.
Pothin said the case would never have gone so far if it had been any other confrontation in another part of town. Because of the ongoing controversy and the media coverage of the case, mediation had not been successful, Pothin said. He said Higonnet has been “publicly maligned,” and “tarred and feathered” in the press. He again asked the judge to dismiss the case.
Judge Thompson asked Doyle if the state intends to prosecute the case.
“No,” Doyle responded.
Thompson then dismissed the case.
As she and her husband left the courthouse, Higonnet declined to comment.
Pothin said he was prepared to win the case in trial, had it not been dismissed. Many of the claims Brooks made were “patently false,” he claimed. Higonnet did not open the car door and she did not touch Brooks, Pothin asserted.
Pothin said Higonnet had repeatedly tried to resolve the situation and had previously tried to give Brooks a “letter of regret.” Brooks rejected the letter, saying “I’m not interested in your apology,” Pothin said.
Was the letter an apology? Did she say she was sorry?
“She regrets that she was involved,” Pothin said. “You can parse it anyway you want.”
“It didn’t rise to the level of an apology,” said Polan later.
“I’m hopeful she can learn something from this,” Polan said of Higonnet.
She noted Doyle’s comments about there being no legal prohibition of dropping off students on Everit Street. People on Everit Street think they have the right to tell people what to do on their street, Polan said. “They won’t put it to bed.”
Asked about Pothin’s comments that the case wouldn’t have gone so far had it occurred elsewhere, Polan said, “This wouldn’t have happened anywhere else.”
Children have the right to go to school and parents have the right to drop their children off in a safe environment, Polan said. It’s time to accept that the school is in the neighborhood, she said.
“I hope everybody really can move on,” Polan said.