Contributed photo
Carl “Robby” Talbot.
Somebody killed Carl “Robby” Talbot.
The state’s attorney from Milford has now been assigned to figure out who, and to determine exactly what happened in the Whalley Avenue jail in March in the lead-up to the 30-year-old local man’s death.
The state Department of Criminal Justice made that announcement in a Thursday afternoon press release regarding the months-long investigation into the death of Talbot, a beloved, eccentric local poet with a long history of mental illness and substance abuse who died in his jail cell on March 21.
Click here to read a story about Talbot’s life and the challenge it posed for the mental health and criminal justice system.
The Thursday afternoon press release states that, per a preliminary investigation by state police, Talbot was placed in restraints in his cell at the Whalley Avenue jail at approximately 6:45 a.m. “after being non-compliant.”
According to a Hartford Courant article from earlier this week, Talbot suffered from cardiac arrest after he was pepper sprayed three times and placed in five-point restraints by correctional officers because he refused to leave the jail’s shower area.
The state police’s press release noted that Talbot was subsequently found unresponsive in his cell at approximately 8:57 a.m. and was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital’s St. Raphael Campus, where he was pronounced dead at 9:40 a.m.
The release quotes a recently completed autopsy report by the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner that certified Talbot’s cause of death as “sudden death due to physical struggle with restraint, atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease and morbid obesity,” according to the press release.
The autopsy report also certified “the manner of death as homicide.”
The state Division of Criminal Justice has now assigned the investigation into Talbot’s death to State’s Attorney Margaret E. Kelley of the Ansonia-Milford Judicial District, “in accordance with state statutes that require such investigations to be assigned to a State’s Attorney from a judicial district other than that where the incident occurred. (New Haven is in the Judicial District of New Haven).”
“We extend our condolences to Mr. Talbot’s family on their tragic loss,” Kelley is quoted as saying in the release. “The State’s Attorney’s Office will be in contact with the family to assure that they are kept aware of the progress of the investigation, the purpose of which by statute is to determine the circumstances of the death and whether any use of force was appropriate under the law.”
“It is my intent to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation. In determining what information will be released and when, I will balance the needs of the investigation with the public’s right to know what happened. It is my intention to complete this investigation and determination as soon as possible, but it also must be noted that these are painstakingly thorough investigations that do require time so it is not possible at this time to give any estimate of when the case will be concluded.”
Carl “Robby” Talbot’s family and friends wondered why he ended up in the Whalley Avenue jail instead of a mental hospital — and then why he was found dead after an altercation with staff.