Officer Fired For Excessive Force

The vote took place at a special meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners.

Commissioners voted 4 – 2 in support of firing Officer Jason Santiago for violating the department’s use of force and de-escalation policies, as well its general rules of conduct.

That vote came at the end of an emotional and sometimes technologically disorienting three-and-a-half hour virtual meeting.

As City Hall remains indefinitely closed to the public because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the meeting took place online via the Zoom videoconferencing platform.

Over 200 people crowded into the virtual meeting to hear about — and weigh in on through the sidebar comments — Santiago’s professional fate.

Police Chief Otoniel Reyes recommended last week that he be fired for his use of excessive force while arresting an intoxicated man in Fair Haven on Dec. 25, 2019.

Click here to read a full story about that incident, and about the chief’s recommendation.

Santiago and police union attorney Marshall Segar made sure that a majority of the disciplinary hearing was open and on the public record so that the eight-year veteran could make his pitch as to why a ​“split-second” mistake should not cancel out a career of public service. (See more on that below.)

Reyes said Tuesday night that Santiago’s disciplinary hearing was about much more than the facts of the incident, which saw Santiago kick a handcuffed, intoxicated man in the groin, pull him up by his braids, and then punch him in the face after the man spit at the officer.

“Before you today stands the image of the men and women of the New Haven Police Department,” Reyes implored the commissioners.

The termination vote comes amidst a local and nationwide uprising against police brutality — with many protesters calling for at least a fundamental rethinking of the relationship between police and public safety, and at most the defunding and abolition of police departments and the reinvestment of those public dollars into social services that get at the root causes of crime. Tuesday night saw protesters outside City Hall calling for Santiago’s firing.

The closest Reyes came to directly referencing this moment of political unrest around policing was when he brought up a video that top brass and over 100 rank and file officers made in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. 

In that video, the officers condemned police brutality and recommitted themselves to their roles as public servants.

“When we say that we are held to a higher standard, that’s not just something we say for the sake of saying it,” Reyes (pictured) continued on Tuesday night.

“When he kicked a man that was down on the ground, the trust that people have in us as a department to do the right thing goes out the window. When he dehumanized him by lifting him by his hair, the values and standards and moral compass of this department go out the window.”

He called on the commissioners to fire Santiago despite Santiago’s otherwise discipline-free and exemplary career on the force. ​“This is bigger than him. This is bigger than me,” Reyes said. ​“This is about us saying to our community that we will not condone those actions.”

A majority of the commissioners ultimately agreed. Mayor Justin Elicker, Chair Anthony Dawson, Commissioner Evelise Ribeiro and Commissioner Donald Walker all voted in support of terminating Santiago’s employment with the NHPD. Commissioners Isiais Miranda and Greg Smith voted against.

“He escalated the situation. He created the volatile situation,” Reyes said after the vote about why he found Santiago’s kick, hair-pulling, and punch so egregious.

“This type of behavior is not acceptable and should have significant consequences,” Elicker said in an email press release sent out after the vote. ​“Though we all expect there will not be conduct like this from our officers, it is crucial that when they happen, we hold the officers in question to the highest standard of excellence.”

“I’m Not Perfect”

Sitting beside Segar and police union President Florencio Cotto, Santiago took off his face mask, exhaled, and fought back tears as he made his case — in both English and Spanish — as to why he should remain on the force and receive a lighter discipline.

“Right now I stand in the middle of a struggle, and I am here to put my best foot forward, not just for me, but for all police officers who put on a uniform, and for New Haven residents who need protecting,” Santiago said.

He recited the personal challenges he has overcome to get to where he is today, including growing up in New Haven with parents who had strong work ethics but little money, as well as working through childhood learning disabilities and ultimately graduating from high school and college.

He described his myriad accomplishments as an officer, including rescuing residents from a burning house on Clay Street and pulling an armed man out of a burning car on Front Street.

He said he has dedicated his professional life so far to ​“preserving life,” even if that means putting his own at risk.

And he described himself as being as much the victim as the aggressor in the Dec. 25 incident, which started out as a call about an intoxicated individual and a car that needed to be towed on Lombard Street.

He said the intoxicated man assaulted him by ​“spitting in my mouth.”

“I find this to be one of the most degrading and disrespectful things a person can do to another, especially a police officer,” he said. Santiago said that spit could have carried infectious diseases.

Santiago also pointed out that he ​“suffered a large laceration to my left hand” after punching the man who spit at him. ​“I had to get shots and other antibiotics to stop the spread of diseases.”

The officer stressed time and again that his actions on Dec. 25, 2019 are not representative of his commitment to public safety and his otherwise discipline-free, commendation-filled career with the NHPD.

“Please don’t let eight years of dedicated community policing and established relationships be erased by a split-second decision on my part,” he told the commissioners.

Twards the end of his 20-minute speech, Santiago acknowledged, in part, that he was in the wrong last Christmas.

“We all make mistakes, and I’m not perfect,” he said. ​“I am accountable, and I regret that split-second decision that put us all in the moment that we are in right now.”

Segar asked the commissioners to take a ​“restorative justice” approach to disciplining Santiago. He called on them to impose a three-month unpaid suspension, require Santiago to go through two years of additional enhanced force training, have him speak at all police academy classes for two years about the effect that excessive force has on individuals and on the community, and have him speak at community meetings set up by the chief.

“If he’s guilty of anything, he’s guilty of being human,” Segar said.

“He is not a bad apple. And he does not need to be terminated for justice to be served here.”

Sidebar Debate

After commissioners voted to go into executive session for an hour to deliberate in private on the arguments for and against the officer’s firing, meeting attendees continued weighing in on the case.

They did so through Zoom’s chat feature.

A majority of those who spoke up — through their writing — called on the commissioners not to cave to what they called political pressure and fire an officer with an otherwise stellar record.

“Let him without sin cast the first stone,” wrote Police Sgt. Betsy Segui. ​“The totality of all factors has to be taken into consideration. Not just the agenda, comments of members of this forum.”

“He is well respected by the community and it is not right we need more officers like him,” wrote Shirley Warren. ​“I am just so disappointed in the fact that you people are so quick to terminate him when he is not how about a warning I’ve watched numerous officers do bad things and he is not one of them he is a loving caring person and anytime we had a problem in our neighborhood we did not call 911 we called Officer Jason.”

“I feel like you all taking it to far because of what’s going on in the world,” she continued, ​“and he does not need to be made an example out of.”

Someone writing under the username NHPD agreed: ​“Do not use a respected Officer to make an example to the community.”

So did Jakub Baliga. ​“Let’s not make Officer Santiago a ​‘sacrificial lamb’ in light of today’s political climate. He’s an outstanding police officer. He cares for his community and his community is better by having him in it.”

One of the few commenters who expressed concern about overlooking Santiago’s excessive force because of his good deeds was Hill business owner and activist Miguel Pittman.

“It’s not about pleasing the community. Its about doing the right thing,” he wrote.

After the commissioners took their vote, commenter Jason Koenig dismissed the decision as political.

“All because of idiot protesters!” he exclaimed.

“Going Beyond Just Words”

Not everyone was displeased with the decision. Two dozen people affiliated with Unidad Latina en Accion rallied outside City Hall Tuesday evening in support of Santiago’s firing.

ULA lead organizer John Lugo said Tuesday’s City Hall protest was held in part to put pressure on Elicker, a first-term mayor ​“who has been talking to clear and make better for the people of New Haven.”

Firing Santiago is an important step in that direction, he said.

He and fellow ULA organizers also called for the firing of Officer Dennis O’Connell and Sgt. Martin Feliciano, just as they did during a silent protest march down Grand Avenue to City Hall last week.

“We have seen other cases of police officers doing worse things in the community,” he said about O’Connell’s nine brutality accusations—and subsequent promotions and lack of serious disciplne.

“There has been a pattern of officers brutalizing our community, and nothing happened to them,” he said.

Police accountability activist and longtime police commission watchdog Barbara Fair praised the chief’s decision to push for Santiago’s termination.

“I think the chief recommending that he’s going to fire him is a first step in showing us that he is truly about making his officers accountable,” she told the Independent by phone Tuesday. ​“For me, that’s a first step in going beyond just words.”

“I think what he did was horrible,” Fair said as she reflected on Santiago’s actions during that Christmas 2019 incident.

She said the state’s attorney’s office, which is currently investigating Santiago, should follow through on bringing criminal charges against the now-fired officer.

“If I did that, not as a cop, I would have definitely been charged,” she said. ​“He should be treated just like anyone else.”