(Update) As critics of police misconduct planed to rally Wednesday night, Police Chief Frank Limon had two reactions to the release of a video that appears to show cops punching and kicking a man at the tail end of a chase and scuffle. He promised an internal affairs investigation. And he released copies of the full incident report and the suspect’s criminal history.
The video accompanies a story published online and in the Wednesday editions of the New Haven Advocate.
It concerns an incident that took place on Blake Street around 6 p.m. on June 23.
Here’s the official version of what happened, according to Officer Joe Avery:
Paul Bass File Photo
Officers Halim and Senior.
At 6:04 p.m. Thursday, ShotSpotter indicated a single gunshot near a wooded area on Blake Street. Officers Ekrem Halim and Christopher Senior (pictured) arrived to find a man leaving the area. When the tried to stop him, he pulled a sawed-off rifle from his trousers and ran. The cops caught him after a foot chase and a struggle, during which the man and the cops were injured. Cops recovered the rifle and arrested the 31-year-old man. He was charged with gun possession and two counts of assault on a police officer.
The arrestee has been convicted three times since 2007 of charges including burglary and drug possession, according to the state judicial database. Police have arrested him nine times.
Click here to read the full police report and view the suspect’s arrest record.
The Advocate story quotes a woman who said her son and other children saw the cops beat the suspect “to a bloody pulp”: “He was sitting with a huge pool of blood …My son said, ‘Ma, they were just kicking him and kicking him.’”
Click on the play arrow at the top of the story to watch the latter part of the arrest, in which officers kick and punch the man.
The .22 caliber Weatherby rifle police said they recovered.
Community activists plan a rally about the incident outside police headquarters at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Details here.
Wednesday afternoon Chief Frank Limon issued the following statement:
“I have asked the Internal Affairs Divison to conduct a full and thorough investigation of these allegations. While this investigation is pending, the department, in the interest of transparency, is releasing publicly all available information about the incident and the individual involved in it.”