Shot By Police, He Seeks Vindication

A bullet came out of Jewu Richardson’s chest the other day. The cut is healing — but the scars remain, as he fights a charge that he rammed his car into the cop who shot him.

On Jan. 16, 2010, Richardson (pictured) was shot in the chest after a cross-town police chase. The bullet finally came out of his body in May, emerging from his side while he was in the shower.

He’s not through with the incident, though. Richardson appeared in Superior Court on Elm Street on Friday in the latest of a series of court dates stemming from the events of Jan. 16.

Richardson doesn’t dispute much of what police say happened that day: He fled from cops after a traffic stop, led them on a 15-minute car chase and hit other cars in the process.

But, he said, he didn’t run his car into a Officer Ross Van Nostrand, forcing the cop to shoot him, as police claim.

Police reports state that Richardson drove his Acura into Van Nostrand, who then clung to the hood of the car and fired his gun through the windshield to get it to stop. Based on those reports, Richardson is charged with assaulting a police officer, a felony.

Richardson and his attorney, Diane Polan, said they have witnesses who can prove that Richardson didn’t hit the officer with his car, and that Van Nostrand shot Richardson without provocation. Roger Johnson, a passenger in the car, said the cop jumped on the hood of the car after it had stopped and pulled the trigger after Richardson, Johnson, and a third passenger all put their hands up in surrender.

With that and other testimony, Richardson is hoping to beat the felony charge, the latest product of a history of unpleasant encounters between him and law enforcement. Such encounters have traumatized him and caused him to panic and flee the police when they pulled him over on Jan. 16, 2010, he said.

Since his arrest in 2010, Richardson has become an outspoken activist against police brutality, joining recent protests at City Hall and police headquarters. He said he’s trying to draw attention to what he called ongoing police misconduct in New Haven.

On Friday morning, after his case was continued to July 29, Richardson sat on an Elm Street bench and recounted his history with the police:

Richardson, who’s 32, grew up in the Hill. In October 2000, he was arrested with a quantity of crack on him, while he was on probation for a juvenile conviction.

He said that cops offered to make the case go away if he’d turn informant. When he refused, on the night of his arrest, cops took him to Roberto Clemente Park. handcuffed him to a fence, and beat him viciously until he lost consciousness, Richardson claimed.

Richardson said he put in an Internal Affairs (IA) complaint after his alleged beating. Capt. Denise Blanchard, head of IA, said she had no record of such a complaint.

Richardson ended up serving several years in prison on the drug charge. When he got out, he landed in a halfway house on Howard Avenue in the Hill and began putting his life together. He got a job and started taking classes at Gateway Community College, where he earned an associate’s degree. While at Gateway he took an internship working with New Haven Family Alliance. He worked as a ​“peer specialist” at Columbus House homeless shelter, helping men who were getting out of prison. Then he became a ​“public ally,” part of an Americorps program that placed him at Teach Our Children, a school reform organization.

Richardson now attends Albertus Magnus, where he’s working on a bachelor’s degree in psychology, he said. He maintained that he has stayed away from drugs, and hasn’t touched them for 10 years.

Court records show that Richardson was convicted in 2004 of a larceny charge, with a suspended sentence. He said he was in fact the one who was robbed. In a dispute with a guy who stole a $1,500 necklace from him, Richardson ended up charged with stealing the necklace, he said. He said he copped to a suspended sentence plea deal because he couldn’t afford a lawyer and because it was the only way he could get his necklace back.

In September 2005, Richardson had another run-in with two of the cops who he claimed beat him up in Roberto Clemente Park. They showed up immediately after he was pulled over for allegedly running a red light. They again threatened him, he said.

In January, 2006, Richardson was pulled over again. The same two cops showed up. One of them told Richardson he would have to become an informant or go to jail and then planted drugs in Richardson’s shirt pocket, he claimed.

Richardson spent the next 18 months in jail, fighting the charges against him. He was offered a plea deal, but refused it. Finally, just as his trial was set to begin, in March 2007, the cop who he said had planted the drugs was indicted by the feds on a variety of charges, including planting evidence, falsifying reports, stealing money, and taking bribes.

The case against Richardson was eventually nolled, against his will, he said. He had wanted the charges dropped entirely, but a hearing was held without him, he said.

When he got out of jail, Richardson filed a federal civil suit against the police department, the City of New Haven, and the officers who he said planted evidence on him. Meanwhile, Richardson said he continued to be harassed by police and pulled over without cause.

Finally, on Jan. 16 2010, he was pulled over at the corner of Spring and Howard Avenues in the Hill. He admitted that he was drinking beer in the car with a friend, while driving.

As the cop approached the car, he pulled his gun out, Richardson said. ​“I automatically got scared. … I immediately took off.”

He led cops on a chase through town for 10 or 15 minutes. Richardson said he remembers thinking, ​“They’re trying to kill me.”

Finally, Richardson ended up in the parking lot of the gas station at the corner of Sherman and Whalley.

A Different Version

Here’s what happened next, according to interviews with Richardson and Johnson, who was in the passenger seat:

A police car hit Richardson’s car from behind, sending it spinning. A cop, Officer Van Nostrand, was running alongside the car. He leaped on the hood of the car after it hit a parked car and came to a rest. Richardson, Johnson, and a third passenger all put their hands up as the cop pointed his gun at them through the windshield. He ordered Richardson three times to turn off the car, while banging on the windshield with the tip of his gun.

Richardson was frozen, too scared to reach down to kill the engine. Finally the cop shot him in the chest through the windshield.

“He shot me,” Richardson recalled. ​“I thought I was dead.”

Cops then pulled Richardson and Johnson out of the car and assaulted them. They took them to the hospital for treatment. Johnson, who had a broken orbital bone after being assaulted by police, was not arrested. He and the other passenger were released. Richardson spent 10 months in jail before making bond.

After his release, Richardson dived into activism with groups like New Haven Against Police Brutality and Frontline Souljaz. ​“I was doing it before I went to jail, but I really went gung-ho after I came home.” He said he was motivated partly by what he heard from other people in handcuffs during his court appearances. People would tell him they were beat up by the cops but that they couldn’t afford to fight it. ​“That’s like, the norm.”

Richardson said he feels that he has to speak out. ​“If I don’t say nothing about it, I feel like I’m contributing. I have no other choice,” he said. People need to start challenging the status quo, he said.

The bullet that entered Richardson’s chest above his left nipple on Jan. 16, 2010 ended up on the left side of his ribcage. It was never extracted from his body. Over time, he felt it work its way closer to the surface, where he felt it as a hard, tender lump. One day in May, as he was taking a shower, Richardson pressed on the spot, and the bullet broke through the skin into his hand, along with some blood.

Richardson said he now uses that bullet as a visual aid at political demonstrations.

He said he’s still traumatized by his run-ins with the police. ​“I go to a shrink once a week.” He said he has panic attacks and starts shaking and sweating around even small groups of people in uniforms.

Richardson said he doesn’t feel safe around police, and continues to worry that they could assault him or plant evidence on him. ​“I know they could. They’ve done it.”

The Police Version

The police reports from the Jan. 16 incident tell a different tale — that Richardson ran his car into Officer Van Nostrand.

Here’s what happened, according to reports by Sgt. Doug Harkins, Officer Robert DuPont, Officer Cory Kozuch, and Det. Wayne Bullock:

At about 7:18 p.m. on Jan. 16, Officer DuPont spotted a blue Acura TL with a front headlight, traveling on Howard Avenue near Putnam Street. He stopped the car near Spring Street. While he was waiting for back-up, the car took off.

DuPont pursued the car through the Hill, until Sgt. Harkins radioed him to call off the chase as it was a danger to public safety.

Then cops spotted the car stopped at a light at the corner of Ella Grasso Boulevard and Columbus Avenue. The car sped north on Boulevard, hitting another car. As the Acura neared Legion Avenue, it struck a police cruiser.

The Acura pulled an illegal U‑turn on the Boulevard, then headed east on Legion, cutting in front of police cars. The Acura then turned north on Sherman Avenue. It collided with a car on Sherman near Chapel Street and continued to Whalley Avenue. There the car entered the gas station on the corner, exited onto Whalley, struck a trailer, then turned back into the parking lot and drove between the gas station and the car wash next door.

Officers Van Nostrand and Mary Helland got out of their car on Whalley and ran into the lot. The Acura came towards Van Nostrand.

“The vehicle struck Officer Van Nostrand and he ended up on the hood of the car,” reads the report of Sgt. Harkins. ​“Officer Van Nostrand discharged his firearm into the front windshield of the suspect vehicle striking the driver in the chest area.”

The Acura, now heavily damages, then hit a parked car, and police apprehended all the occupants. Richardson’s blood alcohol level was later determined to be over the legal limit.

Officer Van Nostrand was injured in the head and back when the Acura hit him, and was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital for treatment.

Polan, Richardson’s attorney, said she thinks his case is headed toward a jury trial. His next court date is July 29.