Former State Trooper Sgt. Bryan Fahey, who retired after a much-publicized confrontation with a YouTuber, had a history of complaints and Internal Affairs investigations due to his outbursts, with even State Police attorneys expressing concerns that he should receive counseling and discipline after Fahey acted out during an in-person meeting with a complainant.
There were thirteen civilian complaints lodged against Fahey, resulting in numerous internal affairs investigations documented between 2014 and 2025, according to documents obtained by Broadcast Journalist Brian Scott Smith and provided to Inside Investigator.
Five of the investigations sustained the charges against him which were largely related to his conduct interacting with civilians, concluding that Fahey did not display the “proper attitude and demeanor” of a Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) employee. Fahey’s disciplinary record shows one letter of reprimand for unprofessionalism and two suspensions for unprofessionalism and conduct unbecoming.
Three of the complaints against Fahey were related to his multi-year issues with SeanPaul Reyes, a YouTuber and “first amendment auditor,” whose style of filming public employees is often intended to cause outbursts. There were multiple incidents between Fahey and Reyes beginning in 2021 with an incident between Reyes and several officers at State Police headquarters and continued until the viral-video incident in 2025 when Reyes showed up at Fahey’s residence and Fahey retrieved his firearm and spat on Reyes.
However, there were numerous other complaints made by members of the public – some of whom appear to have purposely sought out confrontation – in which Fahey’s anger appeared to get the better of him.
In 2024, Fahey and another officer were exiting a diner when Thomas Tabak gave them the finger and called them pigs, according to the IA investigation. Even though Fahey reported that he didn’t hear the taunt, he followed Tabak inside the diner and confronted him while the other officer stayed in his car. The back and forth continued and escalated to a yelling match, which was partially caught on cell phone recording.
Despite the IA investigation finding that Tabak “taunted” the officers, it ultimately sustained two complaints of failure to display proper attitude and refusing to identify himself when Tabak asked.
During an incident in 2022, Joshua Casado, a passenger in a car driven by his girlfriend, gave Fahey the finger as he cruised by the couple on the highway. Fahey then pulled the car over, whereupon Casado began yelling profanities at Fahey, resulting in a verbal altercation and eventually a physical altercation and Casado’s arrest in a scene that investigators described as “chaotic.” While a charge of improper use of force was not sustained, failure to display proper attitude was sustained because Fahey had engaged in verbal taunting with Casado.
Other incidents, however, appeared to be a matter of motorists not recognizing Fahey as an officer – in one incident he was off duty trying to direct traffic away from downed power lines and began aggressively yelling at the complainant – or just general discourteous attitude when dealing with upset motorists or people on the phone.
A 2020 verbal altercation between Fahey and a motorist whose name is redacted resulted in an administrative report indicating Fahey could handle these situations more appropriately.
“I feel that TFC Fahey could have handled this situation better had he spoke to this operator in a more professional manner and not fed into the back and forth with the operator,” Sgt. Charles Burns wrote in a January 26, 2020, report. “TFC Fahey was spoken to about how he could have handled this situation in a more professional manner and prevented a complaint by the operator. He was receptive to this counseling and it is my belief that he will have better interactions in the future with the motoring public.”
However, during an in-person meeting between attorneys for the Connecticut State Police, and attorney Rachel Baird and legal investigator, Edward Peruta, Fahey could apparently not control his anger at Peruta to the point that even the State Police attorneys submitted witness statements indicating that Fahey’s behavior came off as “unhinged.”
On March 15, 2022, State Police attorneys Matthew Reed and Cynthia Isales met with Baird and Peruta in an attempt to resolve a pistol permit issue and a complaint that Peruta had lodged against Fahey as the result of a phone conversation. Fahey was invited to attend but quickly became “animated, loud, upset,” when Peruta repeatedly referred to DESPP Commissioner Rovella as “Chief Rovella.”
According to the IA report, Peruta was also known to be somewhat aggressive in his tone, but Fahey just couldn’t let go of Peruta using the term, “which resulted in everything that was said by Mr. Peruta being countered by Sergeant Fahey.”
“Attorney Reed described Sergeant Fahey’s conduct as not being in line with the traditions of the Connecticut State Police,” Sgt. Benjamin Borelli wrote in his July 14, 2022, report. “In Attorney Reed’s opinion, it was ‘uncalled for, unacceptable, unprofessional, and worthy of some level of counseling, discipline, if not professional mental health counseling.’”
“Attorney Isales stated that the line of professionalism was crossed by Sergeant Fahey,” Borelli wrote. “Sergeant Fahey’s voice continued to get louder and louder to the point where Attorney Isales almost asked him to leave the room, but he calmed down a little bit.”
Borelli sustained the complaint that Fahey failed to display proper attitude and demeanor: Sergeant Fahey has an expectation as an employee of this agency to be both professional and respectful, and this standard was not met during the meeting.”
Fahey, who previously worked for the Connecticut Department of Correction, was hired by the Connecticut State Police in January 2007. Despite the complaints and concerns about his temperament, Fahey had consistently worked a lot of overtime, earning more than $200,000 per year from 2020 until his retirement in 2025, and it was during these years when most of the complaints against Fahey were lodged.
The 2025 confrontation in which Reyes showed up on Fahey’s property was captured on video that went viral and showed Fahey retrieving his pistol and spitting on Reyes. Groton Police arrived on the scene and arrested Reyes, who was subsequently convicted of misdemeanor criminal trespassing. Reyes appealed that conviction on September 21, according to the state’s judicial website.
The incident marked the culmination of not only several incidents between Fahey and Reyes that are documented in the complaints and IA investigations, but also of numerous videos about Fahey and his family that were posted by Reyes.
Fahey was given a three-day suspension following an IA investigation, and police later arrested Fahey for disorderly conduct, for which he received accelerated rehabilitation. Reyes filed a complaint against the Groton police for their handling of the situation, but an investigation by an outside law firm found no policy violations, according to CT Insider.
Reyes continues to make videos and post them to his more than one million subscribers on YouTube, including a video posted ten days ago about Fahey’s interview with IA about the confrontation on his property, that appears to include the interview recording and intersperses some AI footage insinuating a coverup.
Fahey retired following the incident in 2025 and is receiving a pension of more than $99,000, according to the state’s open records website.
Fahey’s arrest in August 2025 was part of a string of state troopers arrested during the last half of the year for incidents ranging from drunk driving to workers’ compensation fraud and one trooper terminated for an inappropriate relationship with a high school student. 2026 started no better for Connecticut State Police, when a sex scandal between state troopers and a private security guard at a state building caused media coverage and another investigation.
Multiple state troopers were placed on leave pending the investigation, and one trooper was terminated.
