Sam Gurwitt Photo
Protesters on Dixwell.
Protesters rounded the bend into the Hamden Government Center Wednesday evening, raising their arms into the lightly drizzling air and facing a police car with its lights flashing.
“Hands up!” they shouted. “Don’t shoot!”
They were en route, in the southbound lane of Dixwell Avenue, to Hamden Mayor Curt Leng’s office to deliver a letter calling on him to demand the termination of Hamden Police Officer Devin Eaton.
Last week, Eaton was arrested on one felony charge and two misdemeanor charges filed by the state’s attorney after he shot at an unarmed couple on Argyle Street in New Haven’s Newhallville neighborhood on April 16 at 4:32 a.m. on suspicion (later dispelled) of having committed an armed robbery. Eaton fired 13 shots at the car, sending Stephanie Washington to the hospital. A Yale officer on the scene, Terrance Pollock, fired another three.
Eaton was put on unpaid administrative leave last Monday, and Hamden Acting Police Chief John Cappiello announced that his department would complete its internal investigation within 30 days. After that point, Cappiello said, he will make a recommendation to the town’s Police Commission regarding Eaton’s discipline. Only the Police Commission in Hamden has the power to fire an officer.
Wednesday’s protesters said they want the termination to happen now.
The protest began with speeches on the steps of Hamden’s historic town hall.
“I follow a Christ who was on the side of those who were marginalized and oppressed,” said Spring Glen Church Rev. Jack Perkins Davidson. “I follow a Christ who was put to death by state-sanctioned violence.”
“I’m here to demand the police commission terminate Devin Eaton and follow their own police union contract process within the timeline provided,” said activist Rhonda Caldwell, who is also running for Hamden’s Legislative Council on the Working Families Party ticket in the Nov. 5 general election.
Protesters (including Rhonda Caldwell, in foreground of photo, and Kerry Ellington) cited a clause in the police union’s contract with the town that states that the Police Commission must hold a hearing within 10 working days after an officer is put on unpaid administrative leave.
According to the union contract, an officer may be put on unpaid administrative leave if the officer has been arrested for felony charges. “If an officer is put on administrative leave without pay under this section,” the contract reads, “he shall have a hearing before the Police Commission within ten (10) working days of the date of the unpaid leave. The ten (10) day requirement can be waived by the mutual consent of the parties, provided that a hearing shall commence within sixty days (60) of the date of the unpaid leave.”
“As per police union contract,” said protester and Southern Connecticut State University Professor Cassi Meyerhoffer, “a hearing must be held within 10 working days of the state’s decision to stop paying an officer. That day is Monday, November 4th.”
Cappiello told the Independent that this 10-day period does not actually have to do with the discipline that he may bring against Eaton as a result of the shooting. That hearing is intended to give an officer who has been placed on unpaid administrative leave a chance to appeal that unpaid leave, he said.
The hearing is “regarding that non-paid status. It’s not the discipline. It’s the non-paid status.”
Cappiello said that the department and Eaton have not made an agreement regarding the hearing. If they do not come to an agreement, the hearing will need to take place by Monday, though it will address only the issue of Eaton’s unpaid leave.
Hamden Police Commission Chair Michael Iezzi told the Independent that the commission will comply with the union contract and that if need be, it will call an emergency meeting.
Protesters said they will give the town until Wednesday Nov. 6 to hold the hearing. At that point, they said, they will go to Leng’s house to protest if no hearing has been held.
“We apologize in advance for the ruckus we’re going to make, but this is serious,” said Caldwell. “This is life or death.”
Internal Affairs Investigation
After a few speeches, People Against Police Brutality Organizer Kerry Ellington held up a megaphone and told the crowd that she and whoever wanted to join would be marching in the street to the mayor’s office.
Once a few cars and trucks had gone by, she walked into the road and told everyone to link arms. Together, they marched down the southbound lane of Dixwell Avenue as rush-hour traffic streamed past in the opposite lane.
“Ain’t no power like the power of the people cause the power of the people don’t stop!” they yelled as they passed the police department, a line of cars lined up behind them.
Once they came abreast the Miller Memorial Library parking lot, a police car with its lights on pulled up behind them, trailing them. Two pulled up in front.
“How many bullets? 16!” they shouted, referring to how many times Eaton and Yale’s Pollock fired at the two unarmed people inside the car in the April incident.
Once they arrived at Hamden Government Center, protesters filed up the stairs and into the hall outside the mayor’s office.
It was around 6:15, and the office door was locked. (Leng told the Independent that he was not in the office at the time.)
Meyerhoffer (pictured) read the letter, which had been written by residents. Laurie Sweet later slipped it under the mayor’s office door.
“You cannot fire Devin Eaton, but you have the power to publicly call upon the Hamden Police Commission to fire him,” the letter read. “We are asking you to use that power now.”
When protesters entered his office during an April protest, Leng said, “I have seen enough to recommend termination.” He added that he needed to see what would happen with the state and local investigations.
“Hamden’s Police Chief now has up until November 20th to review the report being completed by the Department’s Ethics and Integrity Unit and issue disciplinary charges,” Leng wrote Wednesday evening in a statement. “I refer further questions on the timeline specifics and report progress to Chief Cappiello … The State took this incident very seriously and after completing their 6‑month investigation, they brought criminal charges. I trust the Police Chief and Police Commission will review this matter with the same level of seriousness, which it deserves, and ensure the outlined process is handled properly.”
Waiting is not necessary, protesters wrote in the letter: “We heard, from you and the Commission, that the Board was waiting for the results of the state’s attorney’s investigation. We then heard, from you and the Commission, that the Commission was waiting for the results of a different ‘investigation’ conducted by an outside consultant — an unnecessary step that is not required by town law or by the town’s collective bargaining agreement with police employees.”
After the shooting, protesters demanded that the town open in independent investigation into the incident. The town announced that it was opening an internal affairs investigation with the assistance of an outside consultant.
According to Cappiello, the town began the investigation, but the town and the state’s attorney came to an agreement that the town’s investigation would not interfere with the state’s. That meant that the town could not interview certain witnesses, including Eaton, until after the state had concluded its investigation.
The internal affairs investigation will determine whether Eaton violated department rules.
Cappiello told the Independent that the department and the Hamden Police Union came to an agreement that the town must complete its investigation within 30 days of the results of the state’s attorney’s investigation. That means Cappiello has until Nov. 20 to finish the investigation and bring disciplinary charges, if he chooses to do so, against Eaton. The union contract states that once the chief brings charges against an officer, the police commission must hold a hearing no sooner than one week, and no later than 30 days after the introduction of charges.
Protesters said that now that the state’s attorney’s investigation is over, and Eaton has been criminally charged with assault, the internal investigation is no longer necessary.
“The most powerful law enforcement officer in the New Haven judicial district, State’s Attorney Patrick Griffin, believes he has just cause to bring forward felony and misdemeanor charges,” said Melvin Medina (pictured), the public policy and advocacy director at the Connecticut ACLU. “That is enough to fire Devin Eaton.”
Some protesters accused the town and the department of using the investigation to stall.
“I’m not stalling,” said Cappiello. He said he is working hard to follow all the rules “because I need to support my case… The Police Commission needs to have evidence given to them.”
It’s like a trial, he said. He explained that if he does not come before the police commission with a thorough internal investigation into how Eaton violated department policy, if that is his determination, then he won’t be able to present the evidence the commission needs to uphold his disciplinary sentence.
Protesters also said that the commission has refused to hear their complaints against Eaton. In May, protesters shut down a commission meeting. Iezzi said that he had been “more than willing” to hear the complaints of community members. At the beginning of the meeting, he said that he was going to get through the business the commission needed to deal with and then open up the floor to public comments. “However, our meeting was disrupted and we were unable to complete it,” he said.
The commission has until Monday to hold a hearing on Eaton’s unpaid leave, if he and the department do not agree to the 60-day extension. If the hearing does not take place, Leng may find protesters outside his house on Wednesday.
It may be personal to go to the mayor’s house, said Ellington, but “it’s been personal since they shot 16 bullets into the car of a young black couple … It’s public and personal.”