Sam Gurwitt Photo
Protester Kerry Ellington.
Forty-five minutes after the sun had set, about 25 protesters gathered outside Hamden Mayor Curt Leng’s house to disrupt the silence setting over his chilly Ridge Hill neighborhood — and to ask Leng to end his own.
The protesters were on the sidewalk outside of Leng’s house Wednesday evening, as they had promised they would be at another protest last week, to demand that Leng speak up about the shooting of Stephanie Washington and Paul Witherspoon by Hamden Police Officer Devin Eaton in April. They called on Leng to recommend Eaton’s immediate termination.
In October, State’s Attorney Patrick Griffin released his office’s report on the incident, which brought felony charges against Eaton. Eaton was arrested and put on unpaid administrative leave. He has pleaded not guilty.
Since the April shooting, protesters have continued to demand that the department fire Eaton. The department has said that while the state’s attorney’s investigation was underway, it could not interview key witnesses, including Eaton, and therefore could not continue to conduct its own internal affairs investigation. When Griffin’s report came out and Eaton was arrested, Hamden Acting Chief of Police John Cappiello (pictured) announced that he would wrap up his investigation into whether Eaton had violated department rules within 30 days.
Cappiello told the Independent Wednesday that he does not have any updates on the investigation, and that he remains committed to completing it within the 30-day timeline he promised.
When protesters marched to Leng’s office in April to demand action, Leng told them that he had “seen enough to recommend termination,” but that he would have to wait for the state and local investigations to be complete. He has not made any official recommendation since then.
Wednesday night protesters huddled together in a line facing press cameras. One by one they took the microphone to speak.
Protesters had made a poster with an image from Eaton’s body camera footage on it. “Your police disturbed our neighborhood,” read the caption across the bottom. “Now we are here to disturb yours.”
A light or two was on in the house, but no one came out. Leng told the Independent that he was not there.
“Mayor Curt Leng where you at!” shouted People Against Police Brutality Organizer Kerry Ellington. “We want the officer discharged. We want the Hamden Police Commission to respect the public that it’s supposed to be working for. We want Hamden to end its policing in New Haven.”
Justin Farmer (pictured below), who about 22 hours earlier had won reelection to the Hamden Legislative Council representing southern Hamden’s Newhall area, implored his fellow leaders to speak up.
“I’ve been in every single community over the last two years, and spoke to community members about trees, about planting, about leaves, about the sidewalks, about the curbs, but for some reason, supposed leaders can’t speak on issues like police brutality,” he said. “Leaders can’t speak on generational poverty. Leaders can’t speak on the trauma that’s going on in our community.”
In the last few weeks, he said, two shootings have taken place in or near his district. “None of the supposed leaders could speak on it,” he said. “Because they don’t see those issues as their issues. Crime doesn’t happen in their community. The issues of racial profiling don’t happen in their community. But God forbid somebody doesn’t have leaves picked up. It’s my job to go and listen to those complaints.”
Farmer told the Independent that his main goal is to enact structural changes in the police department. He said he would like a management team where representatives of the department meet with various neighborhood organizations periodically, for example.
“I want [Leng] to say he’s seen enough to see a civilian review board,” he said to the crowd. “I want him to say I’ve seen enough that we need to come up with a plan. I want him to say I’ve seen enough to be out here, and not be a coward in his house.”
“I respect every person’s right to protest and make their voices heard,” Leng wrote in a statement. “I’ve listened to the protestors and certainly worked to ensure that they have been treated fairly as they should be. This is a most serious matter. Bringing a protest to a public official’s private home, in my humble opinion, isn’t the best practice. It inevitably involves someone’s family, and even their neighbors, into a public issue, which they aren’t involved with and didn’t sign up for. There are many more productive ways to have public discourse. That said, I respect their right to have the protest. I don’t respect a fellow official using the time to make knowingly untrue statements about me personally and about our community.”
In the last few months, noted Spring Glen Church Reverend Jack Perkins Davidson, every mayoral candidate said that “we are one Hamden … But it’s pretty clear that some people get served better than others in Hamden. It’s pretty clear that there’s some division in Hamden; there’s some segregation in Hamden; that white people live in a different Hamden than black and brown people. And the only way to become one people isn’t to say over and over we’re one Hamden and ignore the concerns of black and brown people. The only way to become one Hamden is to lift up the needs of those who have been marginalized and put in harm’s way.
Rodney Williams (pictured above), the uncle of Paul Witherspoon, also spoke. “Paul is a Hamden resident,” he said. “And we’re asking right now, the Hamden mayor, treat my nephew like he was white. ‘Cause I’m going to be clear with you, ok, if my nephew was white, would that officer still be an officer? I doubt that.”
Williams said that until Eaton is no longer an officer in Hamden, his family and community are not going to heal. It’s hard, he said, to watch his nephew become a symbol, but perhaps something will come of it. “Hopefully what happened to him won’t happen again. Hopefully he’s a symbol of future change.”