NHPD body cam video
DeJesus, during the confrontation.
The police have opened an internal investigation into an incident this week at Walmart, in which an officer punched a man in the face during a confrontation after the man allegedly threatened to hit him.
It’s the ongoing probe into 2021 incidents in which an officer punched an arrestee in the head, prompting community discussion over how cops should handle difficult encounters.
The latest incident occurred inside the Route 80 store Tuesday at around 2 p.m.
Officer Rafael Ramirez punched the 37-year-old Fair Haven man, Jose DeJesus, after DeJesus objected to an order to leave the store.
A 24-second Facebook video of a portion of the incident went viral Wednesday. Assistant Police Chief Renee Dominguez (who becomes interim chief starting Saturday) told the Independent that when the department learned of the viral video, it opened the internal investigation. She released a longer body camera video of the incident to the Independent upon a request.
Watch the police video at the top of this story.
DeJesus was a regular presence at the store. His wife works there as a cashier. He was coming Tuesday to pick her up.
Officer Ramirez told him that store management wanted him banned from the store because he continually refused to wear a mask.
DeJesus refused to leave.
What happened next was not visible on the cellphone video that was shared on Facebook. A person was blocking the view. What was audible was the sound of the punch. Then DeJesus is seen falling to the floor.
The body camera video shows more detail, though the actual punch is still not visible.
The video shows Walmart employees objecting that DeJesus was not wearing a mask as he entered the store.
They alerted Ramirez, who was working an extra-duty shift and dealing with an unrelated shoplifting incident.
Ramirez, who recognized DeJesus, proceeded to converse with him in Spanish.
“You have to leave,” Ramirez told him. “The store wants you to leave.”
“I need a reason,” DeJesus said, holding a face mask in his hand. “I come here with my wife, and I don’t have problems.”
“We’ll you’re going to wait for her outside.”
NHPD body cam video
DeJesus, during the confrontation.
When DeJesus refused to leave, the two were in close contact.
“Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!” DeJesus said.
The next key moment isn’t clear on the video. According to both Ramirez, in his subsequent written report, and DeJesus, in a subsequent interview, the officer punched DeJesus, who then fell to the ground. They differ on why.
“I walked closer to DeJesus and placed my right hand on his left arm and attempted to guide him toward the exit door. DeJesus became further irate and yelled, don’t touch me. I ordered DeJesus a fourth time to leave the store. DeJesus ignored my commands and began walking toward the service desk. I grabbed him by his arm and in a firm voice ordered him to leave,” Ramirez wrote in his report.
“DeJesus then got in a fighting stance, very close to me and stated, I’m going to fuck your face up, in Spanish, and began raising his arms with clenched fist. I immediately struck him in the face with a closed fist on the left side of this face.
“The strike caused DeJesus to fall on the ground. I immediately followed him to the ground and was able to secure him in my department issued handcuffs.
“I noticed DeJesus had a hard time breathing so I placed him in a side resting position. I then called for medical assistance.”
NHPD body cam video
Ramirez with DeJesus after DeJesus fell to the ground.
Ramirez escorted DeJesus outside as an AMR ambulance was headed to the scene. The police video shows them conversing again in Spanish outside the store.
“Why did you do this to me? I’m not a bad person,” DeJesus asked Ramirez.
“You attacked me. You went for my face like you were going to attack me. I tried to treat you with respect, but you wouldn’t listen.
“That’s the last time you’re going to ever do that again.”
NHPD body cam video
DeJesus, about to be transported to lock-up.
DeJesus was charged with disorderly conduct, interfering with a police officer, and first-degree criminal trespass. He was taken to the 1 Union Ave. lock-up.
He was released later that day.
That night, his sister Miriam Rodriguez, got home from her job as a nurse at the Mary Wade Home and saw her brother’s bruises. She said she took him to the emergency room at Yale New Haven Hospital. The doctors there said he had suffered a head fracture and a broken jaw, she told the Independent.
Jose DeJesus briefly spoke with the Independent by phone Wednesday evening. He maintained that he had done nothing wrong. He said he just wanted to pick up his wife and go home.
“He hit me hard,” DeJesus, crying, said of Ramirez. “Right in my jaw, right in my face. My whole left side is numb. I can’t even eat. I’m in pain.
“I can’t do nothing.”
He said he wasn’t up to speaking any further.
“We have opened an IA [internal affairs] investigation, which is normal course of action for any use of force incident,” Dominguez said.
She said Walmart later turned over a knife that had fallen from DeJesus during the altercation.
This is the partial version of the incident that was captured in the cellphone video posted to Facebook.
Last May, the video of an encounter with a different officer and a different man inside the Route 80 Walmart also went viral on social media and led to a police internal investigation. Click here to read about that.
Police are also conducting an internal investigation into a Jan. 29 incident that took place inside the CT Financial Center on Church Street, in which an officer punched a man in the head after the man kicked him in the course of a call about an eviction dispute, until a fellow officer stepped in and stopped it. Read about that here. That investigation, and now this latest Walmart incident probe, will reveal in coming weeks where New Haven stands on the question of what actions its officers should be allowed to take in responding to people who are objecting to their actions.
Harry Droz offered Spanish language translation for this story.