Brutality Case Sparks Larger Questions

The latest excessive-force case in town presented the chief with a short-term decision — and, he noted, a longer-term question for the community about what kind of calls it wants cops to handle.

Chief Otoniel Reyes invoked that big-picture debate about the role of policing and its relationship to public safety during a half-hour press conference Friday afternoon on the front steps of New Haven Police Department headquarters at 1 Union Ave.

The focus of the presser was the chief’s decision to recommend that the Board of Police Commissioners fire Officer Jason Santiago for kicking a handcuffed man in the groin, pulling him up by his braids, then punching him in the face. Click here for an earlier Independent story explaining that incident in detail. (A body-camera video of the incident appears at the top of this story; the groin kick and punch begin at about the 4:30 mark.)

Reyes said Santiago is currently on paid administrative leave. He plans to ask the Board of Commissioners Tuesday night to fire Santiago. The state’s attorney’s office is investigating as well and considering whether to file criminal charges against the officer.

The local excessive force incident gets at a larger question that police reformers and abolitionists alike have raised over the past two weeks as hundreds of thousands of Americans have turned out to protest police brutality and systemic racial injustice. That question: What role should police officers play in a community? What kinds of calls should they respond to? Do they actually make communities safer? Should departments be defunded and abolished and replaced with a new system of community-oriented public safety?

The Santiago incident started with a call to the police about an intoxicated man and a dispute over whether or not to tow a broken down van. Should police handle those calls in the first place?

“This entire incident [is] emblematic of our larger local, regional, and national conversations about the irredeemable brutality of policing in America (incident starts with a straight-forward matter of damaged property on CHRISTMAS, which the police could have simply offered to HELP the clearly intoxicated individual with, somehow results in excessive punishment, violence, arrest, job loss, etc. etc. etc.),” Independent commenter ​“mayamoves” wrote on the thread of the original article about the incident.

Reyes was asked on Friday about whether or not police officers are best suited to respond to a call about an intoxicated driver and a broken down van.

“Those officers were there to address a potential violation of the law. So in that regard, yes,” they were right to be there, he responded.

“But in terms of the broader conversation about what the footprint of policing should be and what we should be investigating or not investigating, I would defer to the community on that,” he continued.

Reyes said that police officers are at the end of the day ​“representatives of the community.”

“I will respect the community’s authority and right to decide what policing should look like in their particular jursidictions.”

At this point in time, officers should be on the scene of an incident where someone has allegedly violated the law, he said.

“What that looks like in the future? That’s up for debate.”

Reyes offered a similar response when asked about his thoughts on defunding the police.

“At the end of the day, the community gets to choose what type of police department it has,” he said.

From his perspective as chief, New Haven still very much needs police officers to maintain public safety: ​“We still have too many homicides, too many shootings in our streets.”

“I hope that we can some day have a legitimate conversation that we no longer need the police,” Reyes said. ​“Are we there now? No, we’re not.”

In fact, Reyes said, many communities in New Haven demand quite the opposite: They call for a style of ​“community policing” that requires officers to be in the neighborhoods they serve, building relationships and trust with residents.

“We don’t need less officers. We need more, to satisfy that demand.”

“Human Beings Are Not Infallible”

When asked about Santiago’s history on the force, Reyes was unequivocal: Santiago is a good man, he said. And he has been a very good officer, with no history of discipline and a long record of practicing restraint and protecting the public.

So how to square his violent and excessive actions during the Dec. 25, 2019 incident?

“We’re human beings,” Reyes said. ​“Human beings are not infallible. But when they make mistakes, and when they wear a badge, those mistakes have to be taken very seriously.”

“I am not condemning Officer Santiago,” he continued. ​“I’m condemning Officer Santiago’s actions. They weren’t acceptable. They can’t be condoned. And because of that, he’s going to face some stiff consequences.”

Reyes was asked how the current political moment and mass anti-police brutality uprisings in the streets have influenced his view on this particular incident. ​“Irrespective of what happened in Minnesota, what Officer Santiago did was unacceptable. I would have put him in front of the board [of police commissioners] regardless,” Reyes responded.

He added that this particular moment of nationwide reckoning with the history of police brutality has put ​“trust in policing hang[ing] in the balance. Community trust, community respect is in the balance because of these types of behaviors.” Actions like Santiago’s only support that public skepticism and at times rejection of the police, he said.

He said this is an opportunity for departments to hold their officers accountable when they use excessive force. As in Santiago’s case.

While this incident does not compare to the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes as he gasped and pleaded for his life, he aded, Santiago’s actions do contribute to ​“the abandonment of trust” in the police.